


Honorary Bella

by rclarkie16



Series: Honorary Bella [1]
Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: F/F, Friendship, Gen, hints of bechloe, slight talk of physical and emotional abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-15
Updated: 2018-02-12
Packaged: 2018-10-05 19:30:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 36,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10315388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rclarkie16/pseuds/rclarkie16
Summary: When Grace ran away from her last foster home, she expected to suffer the next two years alone. What she didn't expect was to meet a group of girls who would change her life forever. Set in PP2. Trigger warning for later chapters.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is based off of a dream that I had and couldn't get out of the head. This is my first time posting anything that I've written, so I hope you enjoy it.
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Pitch Perfect or any of it's characters.

The world can be a pretty harsh place. Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong, and anything that can fall apart, will fall apart. 

Take it from me. 

Grace. 

16 year old foster, well, ex-foster kid who’s currently running from a very angry police officer. Why am I running you may ask? I may or may not have stolen a hotdog from a street vender, no big deal. Where was I, oh, yeah the glass is half-empty blah blah blah. 

You see, I was dropped off at a fire station in Atlanta, Georgia when I was just three days old. Mom was an addict and dad was a deadbeat, or at least so I’m told. I’ve been in and out of foster and group homes ever since. Well, I was, at least. I had taken off from my last ‘family’ two weeks ago and haven’t looked back since. That’s what I meant by ex-foster kid.

For the past two weeks I’ve been sleeping in the nearby park and swiping food and cash from unsuspecting people. I’ll admit it, I do feel bad, but better to do now, and ask for forgiveness later, or some crap.  
The good thing about the park I’m crashing in is that it’s a couple blocks away from the local college, Barden University, so people just think I’m a passed out college student. Besides the fact that I’m five feet tall and still have baby fat on my cheeks, no one really questions it.

Just goes to show how people don’t actually pay attention to things other than themselves.

My situation isn’t ideal, but if I can make it two more years, I’ll age out of the system and be able to get a legit job. Staying in the foster home I ran from would not have worked out since-

“Hey, kid! Get back here!”

-oh shit, I forgot about the cop. This was probably the third time this week this guy had given chase. You’d think he’d have given up by now, but he hasn’t. Well, alright, he asked for it.

Making a sharp left, I merge into a group of rowdy college kids, hoping to blend in and buy myself a few seconds to get away. It seems to work because I can hear the guy telling people to move, but the sound of his voice is getting further away.

Three blocks away, I make my way to the crosswalk and without looking, dart across the street. Instead of making it to the other side, the sound of squealing tires causes me to turn my head to face the silver Toyota Prius that’s heading right for me. I have about a second to think before I jump and hit the windshield and roll up and over the car, then effectively land on my ass.  
The driver is finally able to stop the car and in my dazed state, my ears don't register the sound of doors slamming shut.

“Holy shit, are you okay dude?” My eyes slowly move up to meet the smoky blue of a girl who looks to be at least 20. She’s short, like me, with brown hair and she seems to be concerned.

Unable to make words, I nod but it turns into a grimace when a sharp pain shoots up my leg. I let out a hiss and grab at it, in attempt to stop the pain. 

“Oh god, oh god, oh god,” The panicked sound of someone else’s voice catches my attention and I turn to look at a red haired girl around the same age as the first who happens to be having some sort of panic attack.

“This is why you should have let me drive, Chlo, I wouldn’t have hit a kid,” The short brunette turns to the red head. “Chloe, calm down, you weren’t the one who got hit by a car.”

The girl, Chloe, snaps out of her excited state and turns to me, “Are you alright? I’m so sorry, I tried to stop but I couldn’t. I’-,”

“Hey it’s cool, it’s my fault I wasn’t looking where I was going,” I try to reassure the girl, internally laughing because I was the one who had been hurt. “I’m sorry if I dented your car or anything.”

Chloe looks shocked at my words, while the other girl let out a laugh.

“Beca! That’s not funny!” Chloe admonishes the brunette, Beca, who stops laughing, but still has a smirk on her face. 

“But it is, she could have died and she's worried about denting the car.”

Chloe rolls her eyes but can’t seem to help the smile that starts to form on her lips.

“You’ll have to excuse her, she's lacking in the manners department. I’m Chloe, and the rude one over there is Beca. We go to Barden,” Chloe informs me after Beca punches her in the shoulder, insulted.

“I’m-,”

“Hey! Stop right there!”

Jesus. 

That dumb cop doesn’t seem to realize that I was just attacked by a car. Still, not wanting to be caught, I stagger to my feet and put most of my weight on my uninjured left leg. Chloe and Beca both appear to be confused as to why the cop is running towards us but I don’t have time to think about it.

“Sorry, got to go,” I start running (limping), in the opposite direction of the cop.

“Wait! We should take you to the hospital,” Beca reaches for my arm but she is too slow and by then the cop has made his way into the street.

“It’s alright, I’ll be fine. I’ve got to be anywhere else but here!” I yell over my shoulder with a smirk. 

Luckily, since I’m young, I have better stamina than a forty-something man, but because of my injured leg, I won’t be able to run much longer. He seems to be tiring out, too and I wonder why he is still even chasing me. 

I mean, it was a hotdog, not the Mona Lisa. 

An alley way catches my eye and I veer right and head towards the gate. The bottom of it has a gap just small enough for me to squeeze through and I, for once, thank god for being the size of an elf. 

I crawl through it and turn to the cop who looks like he is contemplating climbing it. 

“Sorry officer, but we’ll have to pick up this game of tag another time,” I send him a wave accompanied by a devilish smile, and disappear down the other side of the fence, not looking forward to the swollen, bruised mess I know I’ll find when I roll up my pant leg.  
——————-  
 The purple, brown and green bruise that glares back at me when I look at my ankle almost make me vomit. I am hoping that it is just a really bad sprain since I was able to run on it earlier, but now that my adrenaline rush is wearing off, I’m starting to feel it.

After ditching the man in blue, I had taken refuge in some kind of auditorium on the Barden campus. The locked door had been a piece of cake for someone who’s had to pick locks on doors to access food in three different foster homes. Some people just wanted the checks and didn't think that they had to feed you everyday.

It was pretty dark inside, but there was a dim light coming from the exit sign on the door. A black grand piano near the center that I so badly want to touch, caught my eye, but I didn’t want to ruin with my dirty fingers. So instead, I plopped down in the nearest chair and lifted my legs up onto the one next to it. 

‘I’ll just take a little nap and be out of here before anyone comes here in the morning,’ I think to myself, closing my eyes and letting out a breath that it feels like I’ve been holding all day. It only takes moments before sleep envelopes me.  
——————-

The bright light should’ve have been the first thing that alerted me to the fact that I had slept for longer than I’d planned, but the thing that jolted me out of my chair is a female voice with an Australian accent.

“Well, at least she isn’t dead, then we’d finally have to let Lilly show us where to hide a dead body.”

I am so screwed.


	2. Chapter 2

Five minutes later, no one has said anything and the loud, blonde girl who’d spoken is really close to my face, staring at me. 

I take some time to assess the situation. There are eight girls in total, each one vastly different from the last. They all look to be the same age and they’re all staring at me with various expression on their faces.

My eyes move back to the brown ones inches from my own.

Awkward.

I cough.

A couple more seconds go by

Maybe she's crazy.

I break first.

“So, um, I was just leaving…,” I gesture to the door and try to make a swift exit.

“Woah there squirt! I have a couple of questions for you.” The Australian girl grips my arm and spins me back to face the group, “Are you a spy? Who do you work for? Did the Tasmanian police finally connect me to those Tim Tam robberies in 2011?” She gets closer to me after each question, voice getting quieter.

“Um, what?” I’m really lost, did I wander into the loony bin?

“Playing dumb, huh?” She points a finger at me, “I can-,”

“Amy, chill. She’s not a spy. She looks like she’s twelve,” A tall brunette cuts in, pulling the girl, Amy, back a couple feet. I want to argue and say that I’m sixteen, but I’m just thankful to this girl for saving me from this Amy chick.

“Alright, but I’m watching you,” Gesturing to her eyes with her two fingers and then to my face.

Like I said, crazy

“Hey, calm down kid, no one’s going to do anything to you. Amy here just comes on a little strong,” The same tall girl says, giving me a  reassuring smile.

I finally realize that my whole body is shaking and blush, embarrassed. Showing weakness is the first no-no of being a foster kid. Taking a deep breath, I force myself to calm down so that I can get out of this situation as soon as possible. Once I find an opening in the group in front of me, I vowed to make a run for it.

“So, what’s your name?” The brunette asks me.

It’s would be rude not to introduce myself, “Grace,” I say.

“I’m Stacie,” She gives me a wink and turns to the girl next to her, “ You’ve already met Amy.”

“That’s Fat Amy to you, squirt,” The blonde says to me seriously. Who calls themselves Fat Amy? I look to Stacie, and she gives me a nod to confirm what the girl said is true.

“This is Cynthia Rose,” The dark skinned girl with the short hair gives me a wave. Stacie then gestures to two other girls, one brunette and one blonde, “Jessica and Ashley.”

“Flo is our resident immigrant,” The shortest girl of the bunch gives me a smile.

“Emily, the legacy,” A tall, clumsy looking girl greets me, excitedly shaking my hand for longer than necessary.

“And last but not least, is Lilly,” Stacie takes a deep breath when she finishes while Lilly mumbles something about a cloning machine that she had finished.

No one else seems to hear her or at least they don’t seem affected by it. Maybe I was just hearing things. 

There still isn’t any room for me to make an exit and I’m starting to get a little more relaxed in the presence of this ragtag group. So, instead of making an excuse to leave, I find myself talking to them, but they do most of the talking. My second rule, is not to give up much information to anyone you just met. They tell me about the a cappella group that they’re in, the Barden Bellas, and how Fat Amy, who is still giving me suspicious looks, showed her yoohoo to the President and they got banned from performing at the ICCAs, whatever that is. 

I would pay money to see the video of that performance. The President’s face, not Amy’s lady parts. 

That’s nasty.

The sound of the door opening draws everybody’s attention, “Alright, girls! Let’s get started with practice,” A familiar cheery voice calls out.

In walks two girls who I’ve definitely seen before.

Well, just yesterday, actually.

Beca and Chloe.

They both scan the group and seem to notice the extra number at the same time, “Hey, you’re-,” Beca is cut off by Cynthia Rose.

“This is Grace.”

“Yeah we know,” Beca gives me a smile, “Chloe kind of ran her over yesterday.”

“Technically, she went over the car,” Chloe informs everyone, and gives me a sheepish look, “Hi again, Grace.” 

“YOU WHAT?” The group choruses. 

“Anyway,” Beca says slowly, trying to avoid what seems like would have been a long explanation, “That doesn’t explain what you’re doing here,”

They all turn to me with questioning looks and I curse myself for not leaving earlier, and getting backed into a corner. 

“Well…,” I trail off trying to think of a lie but for some reason I don’t want to lie to these people who have been nice to me. Well, everyone but Amy, “I was sleeping.”

Everyone exchanges glances. Some, like Emily, look confused, while others, like Beca and Stacie seem to read the underlying meaning to my words. Whether or not they truly understand what I mean, I lower my gaze to my feet so that I don’t have to see the judgement I know I’ll find on their faces.

“Okay then, let’s get on with rehearsal,” Beca says and I glance up to see that everyone’s focus had turned to her, “You can stay and watch if you want, Grace. If you don’t have anywhere else to be, that is.”

I give her a small smile and a nod as the group sits down in the chairs in front of the white board. It couldn’t hurt to stay inside a little while longer before I have to go.

I sit back down in the chair I fell asleep in, and get ready to watch what I hope is an interesting rehearsal.

————————

Interesting is an understatement.

I’m not really sure what I’m looking at.

Some of the girls are fooling around with hoola hoops, while others are marching up and down a stepping block, or twirling ribbons. Beca, is by the piano on her computer.

I thought she said this is was an a cappella group, not a bunch of girls preparing for Miss America.

Fat Amy had retreated under the seats next to me and said, and I quote, “I don’t do cardio, so if anyone asks, I had to go to the bathroom because that cheeseburger I had for breakfast was headed south.”

She’s something else.

I have admit, they look like they’re having a lot of fun, even if they aren’t doing anything productive. 

I wish I had that.

My thoughts are interrupted by Beca and Chloe dismissing everyone and walking up to me. They are talking quietly to each other and glancing up at me all the while. They stop when they reach me. 

“Hey, wait, Amy what are you doing down there?” Chloe asks, tilting her head to the side.

“Ummm, uhhhh, oh, there’s the gum I put there last week,” Amy grabs something from the bottom of the chair and puts it in her mouth.

Gross.

“Well, bye bitches,” With that she gets up and walks out the doors, as if she hadn’t just put chewed gum, that probably wasn’t even hers, in her mouth.

“Okay then,” Beca rolls her eyes and looks at me.

“Oh, um, I guess I’ll be going too, then,” I grab my jacket that I placed on the chair and shrug it on.

“Hey, no wait!” The brunette girl steps into my path and puts her hand out, “ We wanted to know if you wanted to come back to our place to get some ice for your ankle, and maybe some lunch or something.”

Shocked, I glance between the both of them and my mouth opens and closes like a fish, “No, I’ve bothered you enough.”

Chloe frowns and attaches herself to one of my hands, “Oh please come, it’s the least we can do for yesterday.”

“We? I’m pretty sure you were the one driving,” Beca narrows her eyes at the ginger.

“Whatever. Please, Grace?” Wide, blue eyes feel like they’re searching my soul and her lips pull into a pout that rivals that of a three year old. I feel if I say no it’d be like kicking a puppy. 

Also, I think, a part of me wants to go.

“If I say yes, will you stop that?” I ask and she takes it as a confirmation and excitedly nods her head.

“You got it!”

“Alright then, fine.” 

“Yay!”

“Okay, tiger calm down or you’ll scare the poor kid away,” Beca laughs and pulls the other girl back, “Let’s go then, it’s only a couple blocks away.”

They walk together to the door and Beca locks it behind her as we leave.

———————————

The grilled cheese sizzled in the pan as Chloe flips it to the other side. My ankle is propped up on one of the chairs by the island and has a smiley face ice pack resting on top of it. Beca, is sitting in the chair on the other side of me with a computer in front of her, the other girls in the living room watching TV.

“Soo…,” Beca starts awkwardly, “Where do you live?”

I freeze and my eyes must be as wide as saucers because she grimaces at her words when my eyes meet hers.

“Uh, around,” Wow, seriously Grace? If that’s not a dumb answer, I don’t know what is, “What I mean is, I’m kind of passing through,” That’s ones even worse than the first thing.

“Are you and your parents staying in town?” She continues after a minute, her tone searching and I think she already knows what my answer will be, but just wants me to confirm it. 

“No,” I bring my hand up to my face and drag it across my forehead, “I’m a foster kid.”  
“What?” Chloe who had apparently been listening the entire time, turns around with a shocked look on her face.”

“Yeah. I never knew my parents. Been in the system my whole life,” Keep it short and simple.

“Well, where do your foster parents live?” This time, Beca asks the question.

Before I open my big mouth again, I take a moment to think about my answer. I’ve basically broke every single rule I’ve made by being here and by what I’ve already said. 

Whatever, might as well just come out with it, Chloe looks like she’s about to have an aneurysm, her brain is working so hard.

“I’m not with them anymore,” Before either of them can interrupt, “I left them about two weeks ago.”

“Why?”

“Where have you been staying?”

They both talk at the same time and I look at my feet, “I left because it wasn’t working out and I’ve been staying in Rigley Park,” The second half comes out a little above a whisper.

“Come again?”

“Rigley Park.”

“You’re sleeping in the park?!” Chloe screeches and she gets this crazy look in her eyes that probably happens a lot.

Beca places her hand on Chloe’s arm but her focus remain on me, “What Chlo means to say is why are you sleeping in the park?”

My hands get sweaty and my shoulders shake a little, “I have no where else to go. I can’t go back.” I whisper, holding back tears.

“Hey, hey,” Beca takes off the hand that was on Chloe’s arm. It wavers in the air for a couple moments, like she’s not sure what to do with it, before she places it on my hand that’s on the island, “You don’t have to explain. We aren’t going to make you go back, just take a breath. Chloe and I are gonna go talk for a moment and we’ll be right back, okay?”

Chloe nods like they’re both on the same wavelength and they both head out into the backyard.

‘Great, I’m so screwed. They’re probably gonna call the police right now and I’ll be on my way back to hell,’ I think to myself.

I’m not really sure how long they’re out there for, but it has to be no more than five minutes before the door opens and they come walking back in. I nervously fidget with my hand and prepare myself for the inevitable.

Chloe and I end up speaking at the same time.

“Would you want to stay here tonight?”

“It’s okay, I’m leaving now.”

“Hey kid, we want you to stay here tonight and we can figure out what you’re gonna do tomorrow,” Beca’s tone leaves no arguments but then she surprises me by asking, “So how about it?”

Not sure if this is some kind of joke, I glance between the both of them. Chloe still has that look in her eyes that’s starting to scare me and Beca is smiling softly, which is something I don’t think she does a lot.

“I guess so,” I reply before I can even process my thoughts and red headed girl to my left wraps her arms around me and jumps around. It must look awkward with me being seated and Chloe suffocating me. I’m not used to physical contact so I don’t relax until she lets go with a pout.

“You’re just like Becs, she doesn’t like hugs either.”

“Hey,” Beca protests, “I can deal with hugs, just not being strangled.”  
   
“Anyway, let’s go get you a change of clothes, you’ll probably fit in something of Flo’s, or maybe Beca’s,” Chloe is pulling me up off the chair and after her as she walks out if the kitchen, Beca laughing behind me.

We make it about half way up the stairs before a voice rings out around the house.

“CHLOE! THE GRILLED CHEESE! WHERE THE HELL IS THE FIRE EXTINGUISHER?!”

Why am I not surprised.

————————————-

After I had changed into something of Flo’s, she’s the same size as me, the rest of the girls had gathered in the living room to watch a movie. Beta had disappeared somewhere and no one seemed to know where. Stacie had said that she probably wouldn’t be back till late. I’m sat in between Stacie and Emily, the two most normal-and I use the term normal lightly,-people in the room. 

“Yo, squirt pass me the popcorn,” Fat Amy reaches out for the bowl that’s sat next to me. 

I pick up the bowl and glare at her, “I’m not a squirt, I’m sixteen.”

Emily speaks up next to me, “Um no offense, but you kind of are.”

“Well, you’re a giraffe,” I stick out my tongue out at her and she giggles, not effected at all by my insult.

“Aw, how cute, Legacy has a playmate.” Stacie coos and wiggles her fingers at us, “It’s like a little Beca and Chloe friendship.”

“Except for the making out part,” Amy jokes grabbing the bowl and shoving popcorn into her face.

A blush creeps up my face at the teasing and I try to hide it, but everyone sees it and they all start laughing.

My chest swells with something I’ve never felt before and I’m not sure what to call it as we all focus on the opening credits of whatever chick flick Chloe had put in.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Pitch Perfect. I wish I did but I don't, and I hate myself everyday because of it!
> 
> See what I did there?
> 
> Anyway, here's chapter 3!

The bright pastel colors should be the first sign that I’m dreaming. The second, being the wide meadow that I’ve never seen before. The grass is unnaturally soft and there’s not a single cloud in the bright blue sky. 

Birds are chirping.

I’m alone, but something doesn’t right. I’m not quite sure what, the beauty of it all distracts me for a moment. My bare feet take me to the edge of the long expanse of flat land, where it meets the forest. 

“Hello?” I call, taking a couple more steps forward.

My voice echoes, bouncing of the trees. 

Wait.

The chirping stops.

It’s getting darker, and I look up to see thick, dark clouds rolling in at an unusual speed. It doesn’t feel like a dream at all anymore, it’s a nightmare.

Suddenly, I don’t think I’m alone.

Without waiting to find out, I take off at a sprint. Everything looks exactly the same, the only sound being my feet hitting the forest floor.

The temperature drops and I can see my breath fog in front of my face. 

“Little girl,” An eerily familiar masculine voice speaks and I come to an abrupt halt.

No, not them, anyone but them.

My hands come up to clutch at my ears, “No please, go away.”

“Grace,” This time, a nasally feminine voice purrs.

I shake my head, tears falling down, memories surfacing from the deepest parts of my mind. I need to get out of here. It’s not safe. 

“Grace” They say together, “Graaaacceee,”

“Hey, Grace,” This voice is new. It sounds familiar, but it doesn’t bring the bad memories that the other two do with it. I know this one, not as well as the first ones, but I know it. Faceless figures swirl around me, making it harder to breathe.

“Grace, wake up!”

I shoot up from the couch, almost smacking into the figure that’s hovering above me, masked in the darkness the shrouds the living room.

The Bella house.

I had refused to take someone’s bed when they offered (Fat Amy didn’t, she had said that she needed her ‘beauty sleep’), and had instead slept on one of the couches in the living room that was surprisingly comfortable. I think before I fell asleep, Lilly had pulled a strand of hair from my head. Please don’t let her clone me or do whatever it is she mumbled about earlier.

The figure in front of me reaches out and I shrink back, still not fully awake.

“Dude, hey it’s just me,” My eyes adjust to the darkness and I make out Beca’s face. 

“Beca?” I ask even though I know that it’s her.

“Yeah, it’s me,” Beca assures me, sitting down on the cushion where my legs had been before I had sat up, “I just got back. I had a couple things I needed to get done.”

“Okay,” I nod.

My hands are still shaking and a sheen of sweat covers my face. I can’t see myself well in the dark, but I know that I’m probably paler than a Cullen. 

The slightly taller brunette gives me a reassuring smile, “Bad dream?” I nod stiffly, “Want to talk about it?”

“No, I’d rather not think of it,” There are some things that you don’t share with people. I don’t want Beca to look at me any differently than she already does.

She shrugs and grabs the remote off the side table, flicking on the television. Curling her legs underneath of her, she pulls some of my blanket over her lap, “We can just watch some TV then.”

Not quite sure why she didn’t just go to bed in her room, I pull my knees up to my chest and focus on the wacky antics of the sitcom family that’s playing out in front of us. It must be around one because that’s around the time when shows like this one are aired. 

After a couple minutes, my lack of a good nights sleep starts catching up to me and I let out a quiet yawn. My head is lolling to the side and I shift, unexpectedly leaning into Beca, who stiffens at the contact. I curse myself for my mistake, remembering what Chloe said about her and physical contact, but Beca surprises me by relaxing and leaning back into the cushion, closing her eyes.

A small smile tugs at my lips and I close my eyes, for once in a long time, falling asleep without any fear of the next day.

____________________________

 

The next morning I wake up to the smell of pancakes and loud voices. Beca must have left at some point because I’m alone in the living room. Pausing at the threshold to the kitchen, I take in the sight before me, not something I’ve really ever seen before.

Stacie is at the stove making the pancakes, while the rest of the girls are sitting around the table laughing at something someone had said before I got there.

“Yo, the squirt is up,” Amy informs everyone, meeting my glare. She hadn’t used my actual name once since we met.

They all turn to face me and give me various greetings.

Chloe pulls out the chair next to her, “Morning, Grace,” She gestures for me to sit down, and I do, “How’d you sleep?”

“Good,” I lie easily while she glances to Beca, who's sat across from her and shoots her a meaningful look which is returned with a glare.

Something tells me I was a topic of discussion before I got here.

“Well, I poured blood, sweat and tears into these pancakes, so you’d all better enjoy this rare occurrence,” Stacie interrupts whatever would’ve been said next by placing a huge tray of pancakes in front of us.

“In my country, we only ate bugs and the occasional rat,” Flo says meaningfully and I gape at her.

“Anyway…,” Beca drawls, “Thanks for breakfast, Stace.”

We all say our own thanks as the tall girl takes the seat to my right and start eating.

I have to hand it to Stacie. These pancakes are the best I’ve ever tasted, well, I’ve only had them a couple of times before, but these are so much better.

“So, Grace,” The blonde girl, Jessica, I think asks, “Do you go to school?”

Assuming Beca and Chloe had filled them in, I shake my head, “No, I took my GED last year when I was in tenth grade.”

“Wow, you must be pretty smart,” Cythia Rose comments.

“Not really, it wasn’t that hard,” I shrug, shoving around a piece of pancake on my plate.

“At least you didn’t drop out,” Chloe chimes in, “That would’ve been easier.”

“What the ginger means is that it’s very admirable that you got your GED,” Stacie informs me with a smirk.

The rest of breakfast is filled with the same small conversation and questions; favorite color, music preferences, ext. I try to enjoy it while I can, because I know I’ll have to leave soon.

When everyone is finish and wanders out of the room, I help Stacie clean up and she tells me all about the cute guy she met the other day and how she was going to go in for the kill, whatever she means by that. She’s talking to me like an adult and that’s all that really matters.

With two people working, it doesn’t take that long to finish, and Chloe calls everyone into the living room.

It’s oddly silent and the red head looks extremely nervous. I glance at Beca for an hint as to what’s going on, but she looks nervous too.”

“Um,” Chloe pausing, searching for the right words, “Bec, maybe you should take this one.”

“What? Me?” Beca’s eyes widen when Chloe shoots her a pleading look, “Fine. Grace, what Chloe was trying to say is that we think we should call someone to let them know where you are.”

What?

I shoot up from my spot on the couch, my heart leaping into my throat. 

“No, no, you can’t do that! I’ll leave right now, please, I can be gone in two seconds. Just don’t tell them where I am!”

Beca holds her hand up, silencing me, “Let me finish. We want to tell them where you are, so that one of us can apply to be your foster parent. Not so we can get rid of you.” She gestures to herself and Chloe when she says, ‘one of us’. 

“Wait, what?” I scan each and every one of their faces, lingering on Emily’s, because she’s the easiest to read if this is a joke, “Are you kidding?”

“We’re serious, kid,” Stacie tells me, “Chloe talked to all of us and it’d be pretty hard to deny her even if we didn’t agree with her. She’s got some power of persuasion. Plus we all think you’re pretty cool, so we want to keep you around.”

I was still frozen. This didn’t make any sense. I’ve known them for less than a day, and they want me to live with them. 

Was this another dream.

“So, what do you say?” Cynthia Rose asks me.

Each of them have various expressions on their faces. 

Chloe looks like she did when she hit me with her car. Stacie is giving me an encouraging smile, while CR, Ashley, and Jessica give me a thumbs up each. Fat Amy, Flo, and Lilly are squinting at me for some odd reason, and Emily, unsurprisingly is bouncing in her seat. Lastly, my eyes fall on Beca, who’s biting her lip with an anxious expression, obviously awaiting my answer.

“I’d love that,” I breathe out, tension leaving my shoulders. 

They all break out into shit-eating grins.

“Group hug!” Chloe shouts and without a choice, I’m pushed into the center of their circle, pressed up next to Beca, who looks about as uncomfortable as me.

“Get used to it. This happens a lot,” She tells me, but can’t help the smile on her lips.

Everyone separates and Fat Amy pats me on the shoulder, “Don’t worry squirt, I’ll be the coolest aunt ever. I’ll even make you my famous jungle juice.”

I have no idea what that is, but Beca shakes her head firmly, “One, Amy, I’m not sure that’s how it works, and two, there will be no alcohol for the kid.”

All she gets in response, is a wink.

—————————————————-  
About two hours later, half of the girls had left to go to class, which left me with Chloe, Flo, Stacie and Fat Amy. Chloe had called multiple numbers until she was put in contact with my social worker, who I haven’t seen since I was 14. She left the room for a while to talk to her, presumably so I didn’t hear what they talked about. The others were sorting through a pile of mail while she was gone. 

Half an hour goes by before she returns and holds out the phone to me. Her expression is neutral, which seems like a hard thing for her to do.

I swallow thickly and clutch the phone to my ear, “Hello?” It comes out as a squeak.

“Hello, Miss Connors,” The old, raspy voice of my social worker, Mrs. Michaels, greets me, “It’s nice to finally hear from you.” 

Heat rises to my cheeks as I try and think of a response, “Um, yeah, sorry about that.”

“Anyway, I talked to Miss Beale, and she explained what she knows of your situation to me,” Mrs. Michaels says, “Normally, I wouldn’t let you stay there, but as your previous foster family didn’t report you missing right away, we don’t have another home for you to be put in right away.”

Seriously? 

Is she saying what I think she is?

“Of course, I will have to run extensive background checks on all the people living there, and visit in person,” She drones on, “and have them fill on piles of paperwork…,”

By now, I’ve completely tuned her out. The only thing I can focus on is the fact that I get to stay here. This has to be a the best luck I’ve ever had, which reminds me that something would probably come in the form of a wrecking ball to destroy it.

“…but you’ll be staying there for the time being,” I catch the last of her words.

“Thank you so much!” I try to keep my voice from cracking with the swell of emotion I’m feeling.

“You’re welcome,” She responds with a smile in her voice, “Take care of yourself, and tell Miss Beale that I’ll be in touch very soon,” With that the phone beeps to signal that she ended the call.

Placing the phone down on the table, I look at the four girls who’ve managed to stay surprisingly silent.

“And?” Flo prompts, waving her hand in a, ‘go on’ motion 

“She said that I can stay for now,” I grin and turn to Chloe, “and that she’ll call you soon.”

Chloe’s neutral mask lifts to reveal a smile and crazy look, “Aca-awesome!” She cheers.

“Excuse me?” 

Amy looks up from the hate mail that she’s reading to inform me, “It’s a cappella lingo, squirt. You put ‘aca’ in front of whatever you want,” She smirks when I glare at her for the nickname. 

Two can play at that game.

Casually picking up a letter, I fake read it before declaring, “No wonder you get so much hate mail, if you’re ‘down under’ is as offensive as this person claims.”

Choked laughter erupts from each of the other girls, but Fat Amy. 

She gives me a long look before tearing the letter out of my hands and tossing it back in the bin.

“Don’t start something you can’t finish, kid,” She says slowly, to threaten me.

We both slowly stand up from the table, eyes never parting from each other. She takes a menacing step forward, “I’ll sit on you,”

Stacie, steps between the both of us before I can seal my fate and states calmly, “Now, guys, how about lunch.

Each of us exchange one last glare before looking at Stacie.

“Lunch?”

—————————————————-

The day had gone on much like the night before, girls leaving for class or coming back, someone always there to stay with me, though.

It was almost six, and everyone had made there way back to the house, ready to wind down for the night.

Chloe had told me that I could share a room with Emily, because there was no way I was gonna share the only other open bed in Lilly’s room. I’m pretty sure someone mentioned that she sleeps upside down.  
So that brings us to right now.

Beca, Chloe, Emily and I are in the energetic brunette’s room. She told me that she had just moved in last week and hadn’t had anytime to decorate yet so we could decide together. Something tells me that I’ll just end up letting her do whatever she wants because her excitement is hard to say no to, like Chloe’s. 

“So, your bed is the one by the window,” Emily says, sitting down on her own.

I take a moment to study the room. The walls are a pale blue and the carpet is a chocolate brown. It’s soft underneath my feet. I sit on the bed, the mattress bouncing underneath me. The comforter on it is really nice, and the pillow at the head of the bed is super fluffy.

A laugh sounds from behind me, and Beca grins when I turn, “You like it?”

“Yeah,” I sigh, this was probably the comfiest thing I’d ever slept on, “Best bed ever.”

All three of them laugh. 

“Cool, dude,” She says back.

“So, tomorrow we are going to be scouting our competition, Das Sound Machine,” Chloe starts, “They stole our tour and are our competition at Worlds. So now we have to go see just how good they are.”

Beca rolls her eyes, “Everyone’s going but if you don’t want to, I can stay here with you.”

The red-head next to her looks like she’s about to protest but I quickly cut in, not wanting to cause a rift between the two captains.

“I’ll go.”

“Great,” Chloe grins, “Well I have a Russian Lit. paper to write so I’ll see you later.

She leaves and Beca follows behind her, claiming that she’s going to see someone named Jesse, but it sounds like an excuse to me.

That leaves just Emily and me.

I lay back onto my pillow and watch as the other girl opens a book and starts writing, biting her lip. I watch for a little bit before the silence becomes uncomfortable.

“What are you writing?” I ask, and immediately cringe when it sounds like something a toddler would ask.

Brown eyes meet mine and she looks nervous for the first time since I’ve met her.

“I’m working on the song I auditioned for the Bellas with.” 

“You write songs?” I ask, interested.

She smiles softly at me and nods, “Yeah, I love music, it’s all I’ve ever known. My mom was a Bella and she told me my whole life that it was the greatest years of her life.”

There’s a twinge of jealously that settles in my stomach while she talks about her mom and music, but I push it down because I know it’s not her fault that my childhood was vastly different from hers.

“That’s nice,” I manage to smile.

“You want to see?” She gestures to the empty space beside her on the bed and I hesitate, before getting up and sitting next to her. I keep an appropriate space between us while she starts to babble about the song she was working on.

She continues for a while, keeping up the conversation for both of us and occasionally asking me short answer questions.

Normally, I would never be friends with someone as innocent and happy-go-lucky as Emily, but I can’t help the feeling of camaraderie I feel when I’m with any of the Bellas.

We talk for a little while longer, before she tells me that we should go to sleep so we’re prepared for our ‘mission’ tomorrow.

I curl up under the covers and close my eyes. 

Emily flicks the light out and flops onto her bed.

“Goodnight, Grace,”

 

“Night, Emily,”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grace and the Bella's go to the car show and have a very interesting run in with DSM.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the positive feedback on chapter 3! I’m really grateful for all of it.
> 
> Disclaimer: I don’t own Pitch Perfect, and it’s so aca-unfair.

The next morning, I was shaken awake by a way too excited for 8AM, Emily. Everyone had eaten breakfast and gotten ready for the drive to the convention center, where we’d be scouting the competition. Flo had lent me another outfit and Beca had promised that Chloe or someone would take me shopping sometime soon for clothes of my own.

I’d immediately refused, but she insisted and ended the conversation with the closing of her bedroom door.

Not 15 minutes later, Beca, Chloe, Amy, Emily, and I had gotten into Chloe’s car. Thankfully, Beca had insisted on driving and I sighed in relief, remembering the last time I experienced the redheads’ vehicular skills. 

But this meant that Chloe took the passenger seat and I was squeezed in between Emily, who was bouncing, and Fat Amy, who kept poking me in the side.

“Amy, do I have to make you two stare out separate windows like a couple of six year olds?” Beca glares at the heavy blonde girl through the rear view mirror.

“No, we’re okay. Sorry, dad.” Fat Amy responds while Emily lets out a giggle.

“Why am I the dad?”

“Well,” Amy starts before a smirk forms on her lips, “Chloe fits the role of mother dearest way better.”

Both girls in the front seat blush deeply.

“I mean, you both even have two kids, if you consider Legacy and the squirt,” The Australian continues, “their like you aca-children.”

Emily and I exchange glances and giggle when both girls try to stutter out responses.

“Okay, guys, let’s focus,” Chloe turns to face the three of us, "we are about to see our competition for the first time and we need to put our game faces on. We can’t be seen as weak or they’ll think they’re better than us.”

The crazy gleam in her eye is back as she continues to rant about DSM and some ‘plan’ she has. Fat Amy whispers to Emily and me that, ‘if we agree with her, she won’t murder us’, so the group of us fake smile and bob our heads up and down quickly.

I regret not asking to stay back at the house.

Actually, I had suggested it to Chloe, but the redhead had said that she promised my social worker that she wouldn’t leave me alone, because I was an, and I quote, ‘flight risk’. Which isn't exactly a lie because I had met the girls after running away, but I don’t think I’d ever willingly leave here.

My thoughts are interrupted by the radio being cranked up and all the occupants of the car belting out the chorus of TLC’s ‘Waterfalls,’.

They all look at me to encourage me to join in, but I just blush and sink down in my spot. 

There’s no way I’m gonna sing in front of all these girls who are actually talented at it. I just like to play piano and sing when no one’s watching. 

The rest of the ride is full of laughter and music.

___________________________________

Let’s just say that the Bella’s had severely underestimated just how good the German group was. 

They aren’t just good, they’re amazing.

Chloe would kill me for admitting this, but even though I haven’t heard the Bella’s sing together, I can tell by the looks they’re trying to hide on their faces, that they’re all shocked.

Das Sound Machine reminds me of an army. They all have perfect posture and not a single one had stepped out of place. Being an avid fan of music, I admire the way that they are able to blend their voices together so powerfully and make unnatural noises with their mouths.

I may be knowledgable about music and instruments, but a cappella is a whole new ballgame for me.

The girls are all talking when I notice the large group of foreign singers making their way towards us.

“You guys,” The nervousness in my voice catches their attention, “don't look now, but I’m pretty sure we’re about to have a smackdown.”

“Barden Bellas, you came here to see us?” The giant, blonde in front woman asks, “Is it because you are, how do the American kids say, jelly?”

Chloe says something back, but I’m too busy studying the group in front of me. Their height alone, is super intimidating. My neck kinda hurts looking up at them, but I don’t have to for much longer because Beca informs them of how the Bella's are going to kick their asses.

This doesn’t work out for her very well, because now the women starts to compare her to different small creatures.

Immediately, I’m introduced to a side of Beca I didn’t think existed. She starts to spout what I suppose are attempted insults, but they come of as creepy complements. If someone just entered the conversation, they might think she was hitting on the blonde German.

Her awkward word vomit is saved when the dark haired male leader of Das Sound Machine starts insulting Fat Amy with a variety of other weight related names. Amy isn’t deterred by this, though, and rises up to the challenge.

They’re both cut off by the tall woman when her eyes fall on me beside Emily, “Oh, so you think recruiting children is somehow going to give you an edge? Good luck,”

My eyes narrow at her, but before I can say anything, she’s walking away with a laugh.

“Hey lady!” I finally find my voice, “You forgot something!”

Taking a step forward and holding up my hand, I flash her the bird along with a smirk. 

She turns around, but only glances at me before leaving with the rest of them.

“Calm down, tiger,” Hands grip my shoulders and Stacie’s amused voice sounds, “I think you scared them away. We can’t say the same for our fearless leader, though.”

Beca’s hands are waving in the air, “Why am I using my hands so much?”

Chloe, on the other hand, looks about ready to explode, and she sure does once we all get back into the car.

“What the hell, Beca?”

“I’m sorry, Chlo, she just got in my head is all,” The brunette tries to explain, still seeming quite flustered, “She’s just so tall and…-,”

“I don’t care!” Chloe shouts, “We just made fools of ourselves in front of the enemy!”

Beca lets out a sigh, “Come on, we’ll still kick their asses at World’s.”

This seems to slightly calm the redhead down.

Next to me, Emily’s eyes are comically wide, and I nudge her with my elbow and mouth ‘chill out’. She gives me an appreciative smile, but still looks like she just walked in on her parents fighting.

The car is silent, before Amy decide to ruin it, “Well, I have to give credit to the squirt, she gave that wiener schnitzel a very Fat Amy comeback,”

The tension is melted when everyone laughs as Amy ruffles my hair, and I lean into Emily to get away from her.

“Save me,”

__________________________________

 

After every had gotten back to the house, Chloe had called a meeting. I decided that since I was not a member, I didn’t need to be there to see the co-captain have another meltdown and decided to retreat upstairs and take a nap.

Emily shakes me awake sometime later, saying that Beca had tasked her with the job of making sure I ate.

I shrug off the drowsiness and follow the tall girl down the steps and into the kitchen.

Stacie is sat at the island with a large physics book in front of her, biting on the edge of her pencil. When she notices us she looks up, “So there’s a party tonight at the fraternity down the street, and somebody needs to stay home with the kid,”

“I don’t need a babysitter,” I glare at her, “I’m sixteen,”

“I don’t make the rules,” She holds up her hands, “I just enforce them when I have to,”

Emily interrupts whatever dumb thing would come out of my mouth next, “I’ll stay. I have to work on an essay for my comp class due Monday, anyway.”

“No, Em, please go,” I don’t want her to have to miss a party just to work on a paper or whatever code for babysit is.

“Someone has to stay here,” Stacie purses her lips, “or were you planing on joining us?”

Dumb, drunk college students?

I don’t think so.

“No way,”

Stacie exchanges an amused look with Emily, “Then, it’s settled. Legacy will stay here, while I go get my game on.”

Ew.

As I’m making a sandwich, the rest of the girls, minus Beca, wander into the kitchen and start to pregame. Fat Amy, CR, and Stacie are doing most of the shots, while the others are taking their time. 

This goes on for another fifteen minutes, before the lot of them head out the back door, the sound of their laughter dying down as they get farther away.

I grab a blanket from behind the couch and turn the TV on as I get comfortable with my legs curled underneath me. I flick through the channels in search of something to entertain me while Emily works on her paper, when said girl comes bounding down the stairs in her pajamas.

She plops down in the spot next to me and shoots me a huge smile.

“Hey,”

“Hi!”

My eyebrows knit as I study her, “I thought you had a paper,”

“Um, I actually already finished that paper last week,” She replies guiltily.

“Yeah, something told me that you weren’t a procrastinator,” We both laugh before I continue, “So, why didn’t you want to go to the party?”

Emily looks down at her hands, “It’s just that it’s a frat party and Benji wouldn’t be there because it’s not an a cappella-,”

“Whoah, hold on a second, who’s Benji?” 

“Benji’s in the Treblemakers, another a cappella group at Barden,” Emily smiles dreamily and it’s so cute that I want to cry, “He’s really nice and he does magic,”

While I don’t find magic to be an attractive quality in a person, it’s obvious that the girl next to me does.

“So, you like him?” I inquire, and I don’t even need a worded answer because the deep, red blush covering her cheeks is enough of an answer.

“Uh,” She searches for words but evidently can’t and slumps, “yes,”

“Why are you so embarrassed about it?” 

“Because he’s so awesome, and I’m just me,” The dejected look on her face hurts my heart.

“Emily, look at me,” Her eyes meet mine, “You’re beautiful! You’re super nice and very talented. If he can’t see that, then he doesn't deserve you! Plus, he does magic, and something tells me that doesn’t bring in many ladies.”

It’s very quiet and I worry that maybe I said the wrong thing.

Suddenly, arms wrap around me and Emily pulls me into her. I’m pretty sure I’ve never been this close to another person before and I don’t have the heart to tell her she’s cutting off my airway.

“O-M-ACA-G! Grace, that’s the nicest things anyone’s ever said to me. Thank you!”

My vision starts to blur and I’m able to gasp out, “Can’t breathe.”

She immediately loosens her grip on me and pulls away, “Sorry.”

“Its cool,” I smile reassuringly and reach out to squeeze her hand. 

I’ve noticed that both Emily and Chloe are very physical beings and it’s something that I’m slowly getting used to.

We both settle back down in our spots and continue to talk, mostly Emily, about anything and everything under the sun.

I must lose track of time, because the next thing I know, the front door is slamming open and all the girls are loudly making their way inside, minus Stacie who’s probably with a guy she’d seduced and Beca, who was wherever she usually goes off to.

Emily and I have just enough time to leap off the couch before Fat Amy collapses onto it and starts to snore.

We make our way upstairs and when we pass Lilly’s room, I look in and notice that she’s legit hung upside down above her bed.

There’s never a dull moment with the Bella’s

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there’s chapter 4! I hope you liked it, and feel free to leave comment with anything you’d maybe like to see or any kind of consecutive criticism. I like hearing what you guys have to say!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Thanks for all of the kind reviews.
> 
> I got a question on Emily and Grace’s relationship and I want to put out there that it’s strictly platonic! In my mind, Grace is a very young 16 and to be honest Emily and Benji are too cute together in any universe.
> 
> On other pairings in this fic: Beca is with Jesse at the moment, but Bechloe is definitely endgame. Stacie/Aubrey might also make an appearance at some point.
> 
> Disclaimer: I don’t own Pitch Perfect, only my OC.
> 
> There’s a slight trigger warning for mentions of past physical and emotional abuse in this chapter. If you need to skip this chapter, you won’t be confused when you read the next chapter.

Later that week, Chloe had finally heard back from Mrs. Michaels, and they set up a meeting for Thursday. The aged social worker was going to be making a house visit to make sure I was in a safe environment. This meaning, she would be meeting all the girls.

All of them.

The Bella’s may be an amazing group of girls, but you had to get to know them before you realized that. I just hope that Mrs. Michaels could see that too.

_________________________________

Today was the day.

I wasn’t able to sleep last night, and Beca had sat up with me while she worked on music for a performance the group had scheduled sometime in the near future. 

“Grace, calm down, girl,” Cynthia Rose eyes me from her spot on the couch, “you’re gonna wear a hole in the ground with your pacing.”

Looking up, I glance at all the girls before continuing to walk from one side of the room to the next, occasionally stopping to glance out the window. 

“Okay, everyone,” Beca stands up and walks to the center of the room, “let’s figure out how we’re gonna do this. Obviously, she’s gonna want to talk to each of us, but I was thinking that Chloe and I should do most of the talking,” She gives Fat Amy, who looks around innocently, a very pointed look.

“Please, for the love of god just act like normal people.” The brunette pleads with them, “For the hour or so the this woman’s here.”

This morning, everyone had been assigned a job to tidy up the house. 

I just can’t believe they’re going through all this just so that they can have me stay with them. If I wasn’t on the verge of a panic attack, I’d be very touched.

My thoughts are interrupted by the slamming of a car door.

My heart drops into my stomach.

Oh god.

I’m going to be sick.

A pressure on my shoulder drags me out of my head, and Chloe gives me a reassuring smile as she moves past me to open the door.

“Mrs. Michaels! It’s so nice to meet you in person! I’m Chloe Beale,” Boy, is the redhead laying it on thick.

While I try to regain some semblance of control over my emotions, the rest of the Bella’s go through their own introductions, before my social worker comes to stand before me.

“Hello, Miss Connors,”

“Hi, Mrs. Michaels,” I cringe at how my voice cracks nervously on the last syllable.

“Why don’t we take this into the kitchen, where everyone can be more comfortable,” Beca saves me from anymore awkward eye contact.

Everyone settles themselves into a spot at the table. Chloe and Beca on either side of me and my social worker across from us, while the other girls are seated around us.

Mrs. Michaels pulls out a folder, my file, from the black shoulder bag she had placed on the floor next to her and flips it open.

“Grace Connors,” She starts reading, and I put my head in my hands, preparing for the information that I don’t want anyone to know, read aloud, “foster child since birth, in and out of eleven homes in sixteen years. Flight risk-,”

“I’m sorry, what’s a flight risk?” Chloe interrupts, confused.

Of course that would come up.

“A flight risk is, a child that’s run away more than once from a foster home,” Mrs. Michaels explains before continuing, “Miss Connors has run away from her last home three times,”

You would too, I think.

But, before I can come up with some kind of response, the older woman continues, “Before we go any further with your foster request, I have to ask Grace a question or two,”

I swallow.

“Most importantly, I need to know why you ran away, and why the Roberts’ didn’t report you missing right away?”

All eyes are on me and I realize that now is the moment of truth, I’m going to have to tell the truth if I don’t want her to send me back.

“They don’t care,” I mumble.

“What?”

“They didn’t care,” I bite out, bitterly, “why would they report a kid they didn’t want around when they were still getting paid?”

Mrs. Michaels, seems taken aback by my harsh words, but writes down something in her notebook, while the group of a cappella singers exchange nervous glances.

“My next question might be a little difficult,” She pauses, tapping her pen twice, nervously, “Did they ever hurt you?”

If I thought the first thing she asked was hard, this one seemed near impossible. 

Various different memories flash through my mind, and my hands grip the table edge tightly, knuckles turning white. The room around me starts to spin as I remember the sharp pain and the loud slap of a belt coming into contact with bare skin, multiple scars littering my side and lower back as a never-ending reminder. Glaring, purple bruises and a high pitched voice shrieking at me for doing something wrong. 

“Dude, Grace,” A voice interrupts my seemingly never-ending flashbacks, “Hey, are you okay?”

I register that it’s Beca who’s speaking, but it’s not until she places a hand on top of my clenched one, that I snap out of it.

I flinch, and shoot backwards, standing up and knocking my chair to the ground. 

All eyes are on me, varying degrees of shock and concern on their faces. 

Beca stands up and fixes my chair, “It’s okay, Grace, no one’s gonna do anything to you here,” 

She steers me back into my seat and returns to hers, scooting it an inch or two closer to mine in an attempt at comfort.

The rest of the Bella’s give me supportive looks and Chloe squeezes my shoulder, encouragingly.

“All I need is a yes or no, Grace.” Mrs. Michaels says with a small, sad smile.

I’m only able to answer with a shaky nod, my voice seemingly failing me. 

To my right, I can see Beca’s jaw clenching. The redhead on my other side looks close to tears. The other girls seem to be somewhere in-between both these reactions. Usual sunshine, Emily, looks like somebody kicked her puppy, while Stacie and Fat Amy are exchanging equally scary expressions. Lilly, is unsurprisingly quiet, but a small frown is on her lips. CR is glaring at the table and Jessica, Ashley, and Flo share equally upset looks.

Mrs. Michaels, is silent as she scribbles something down, “Now, I would like to speak to each of you individually, before any decision is made. I’ll start with you Ms. Beale,”

Chloe stands up and leads the other woman to the living room so the ‘interrogations’, can start. The rest of the girls start to talk quietly, -as quietly as possible for them,-while Beca is still sitting stiffly in her chair.

“Hey,” I whisper, pushing back the memories that plague my nightmares, “Beca,”

She turns her head to look at me, but she’s still really tense and now that I’m looking at her head on, I can see the anger in her stormy blue eyes.

I flinch back at her expression, and she immediately softens a little bit.

“Sorry, I’m just kinda pissed,” She manages to give me a reassuring smile.

“It’s okay.”

Her hand slams down on the table, and I jump, but she ignores it, “It’s not okay! You’re just a kid, you don’t deserve that,” She lowers her voice, “No one does,”

“I’m not a kid,” I glare teasingly at her, which causes her to crack a smile. I grin and rap my fingers on the wooden surface in front of me.

Everyone falls into an uncomfortable silence as we wait for the next one of us to be called. I’m really grateful that they’re going through all this trouble just for me, I just don’t understand why this feels like that episode of Grey’s Anatomy, where they interrogate all the residents to find out who was assigned to a patient that died.

Soon, Chloe bounces back in and sends Beca out. Then she switches with Emily, then Stacie and so on.

The only one’s I’m really worried about, are Fat Amy, Flo, and Lilly. I’m pretty sure Beca had threatened them with very explicit words, so I hope the short girl scared them straight. Lord knows we don’t need Mrs. Michaels finding out about all the crocs Amy had wrestled back in Tasmania.

Speaking of the devil, the heavy blonde appears in the doorway and points at me, “You’re up, squirt,”

All the other girls had gone, so I’m the last. They all shoot me a collective, “good luck,” and I walk shakily into the living room and sit on the couch opposite of the social worker.

“I’ll get right to the chase, Miss Connors,” She states flipping through her notebook, “Do you want to stay here?”

“You’re asking me?”

“Of course, the state takes in account your opinion, as well,” Mrs. Michaels informs me, “I’ll admit that this situation isn’t the ideal stable environment for a sixteen year old,”

My heart drops at her words.

She’s gonna take me away.

“But, I’m willing to make an exception because of how much you seem to like it here. From what you’ve told me, and what I’ve heard from the others, this is ten times better than your previous home, which I will be pursuing legal action against.” She says curtly, “The girls are unique, but do not appear to be unfit.”

“You mean I get to stay?” My heart skips a beat.

She smiles, “I don’t see why not. Ms. Beale and Ms. Mitchell have agreed to sign as your foster parents,”

Oh, the girls are going to have a field day with this one.

“Thank you! Thank you so much!” I throw my arms around her excitedly and she pats my back awkwardly.

“You can go give the girls the good news,” She tells me, pushing me towards the kitchen.

I push open the door to reveal most of the girls pressed up against the wall, besides Lilly and Beca.

“Um, hi”

“What did she say?” Chloe attaches herself to my arm with a vice like grip.

I look to the ground, putting a sad look on my face. The smiles all start to fall off of their faces.

“She said I could stay,”

“Oh no this can’t-,” Stacie pauses, “the hell?”

I don’t need to repeat myself, because Emily’s face lights up and she throws her arms around me, lifting me into the air and swinging me around excitedly.

Usually, I would tell her to put me down, but I get to stay with these saps, so I guess I can deal with it just this once. The rest of the group gathers around, encompassing me in another group hug.

Beca and Lilly get up and join in as the group cheers.

I don’t think I’ve ever been happier.

_____________________________

 

Later that night, Mrs. Michaels had left after having Beca and Chloe sign a bunch of paperwork. She promised to be in touch and keep us updated on how the case against the Roberts’ was going to play out.

Chloe had announced that we were going to celebrate with a movie night party, which I’m pretty sure is just a regular movie night where I got to pick the movie. I picked an action comedy, but no one was actually watching. Instead we were chatting and joking around.

“Amy, seriously! We don’t give alcohol to minors!” Beca narrows her eyes at the Australian.

For the past half an hour, Fat Amy has been trying to slip me some of whatever she has in her black reusable bottle. Even if I did want to drink, I definitely wouldn’t take any kind of beverage from the blonde girl on the floor in front of me. 

The first time she tried, Lilly had smacked the bottle out of my hands with ninja-like reflexes before I even knew what it was. Thankfully, it was closed and hit Amy in the back of the head. She wasn’t deterred, though, and still kept trying to give me some.

“So, Beca. Chloe,” Stacie smirks when they turn to look at her, “congrats on your first child.”

To my left, Beca chokes on the handful of popcorn in her mouth, while Chloe, who’s in front of the brunette on the floor, doesn’t seem to get Stacie’s not so hidden meaning.

“It’s kinda weird,” The redhead admits with a shrug, “but I think it’s gonna be so much fun!”

“I mean, I didn’t think I’d be responsible for a kid in my early twenties,” Beca finally clears her throat, “but I guess you’re alright, Grace.”

Knowing that she’s just teasing, I beam at her.

“Okay, everyone, pay up,” Fat Amy holds out her hand whilst everyone, but the two co-captains and me, fish out ten dollar bills and pass them to her.

“What’s happening?” Beca frowns.

“Fat Amy bet us all that you two would have a kid before you graduated,” Flo explains, “I thought you would have dumped Jesse before you did, but I guessed you skipped a step.”

“I’m really not sure what any of you are talking about,” The short girl replies slowly.

“Whatever, I’ll always be the captain of the Bloe ship,” Fat Amy turns her head back towards the television.

Beca chokes again, and I awkwardly pat her back so she doesn’t die and leave me with these idiots.


	6. Chapter 6

The next couple of weeks seem to fly by.

I spend most of my time hanging out with each of the girls, watching them rehearse, and occasionally getting pulled into any scheme that Fat Amy can possibly come up with. I’m usually the one doing the dirty work, but Amy rewards me with junk food and candy, much to Chloe’s dismay.

Currently, I’m hiding in a cupboard under the sink with a pillow pressed tightly to my chest. 

Amy’s most recent plan had started an all out pillow war. Apparently the other girls, besides Beca, who was MIA, didn’t find us putting their soaking wet bras in the freezer, funny.

We were all in our PJs spread out in the living room when Ashley’s shriek echoed around the house.

The Tasmanian and I had immediately run off to find hiding spots, knowing we only had so long before they connected us to the rock solid undergarments. That brings us to my current situation under the bathroom sink.

This is one of the times that I’m grateful for being short. While I can easily fit in most spaces, Fat Amy was found a couple of minutes ago in the hall closet. Her scream of surprise was cut off by, what I assumed was, a pillow to the face. 

After that, it had gotten super quiet.

They either gave up, or were still searching.

I just hope that I can wait them out. They’ll probably forget about it in the couple of minutes. 

Maybe they think Amy acted alone.

A low knock on the cabinet door brings me out of my thoughts. I hold my breath, and pray that it’s just a draft or something. The door slowly opens and I’m greeted with the face of Lilly, who has a creepy smile on her face.

Shit.

I had forgotten about the sneaky ninja asian.

Just as I’m about to plead for my life, she lets out a high pitch whistle to alert the others to my hiding spot. Immediately, I jump out from under the sink and try to make a run for it, clearly underestimating the other girl.

Her arms wrap around my waist to hold me as we listen to the feet pounding up the stairs.  
Stacie and Emily appear in the doorway, the former shooting me a devious smirk, while the latter gives me an apologetic smile.

“I thought we were tight, Em,” I give her my best puppy dog eyes.

The clumsy girl shrugs, “Majority rules,” Then continues, “and you did freeze my bra, too.”

As I’m about to reply that Fat Amy had slipped hers in when I wasn’t paying attention, Stacie interrupts,

“Alright. Enough chit chat, let’s grab the prisoner.”

Lilly pushes me towards the other two, who proceed to grab my struggling arms and legs. They carry me down the stairs and into the living room, where the rest of the group surrounds Amy in a circle, pillows in arm.

Seeing me, they separate and my two captors set me down next to my accomplice. Then, they reform the circle and stand slightly closer to us. 

“So, you two thought you’d just freeze our bras,” Chloe says slowly, “and we’d just let you get away with it?”

“Uhhhhhh, uuummmmmm,” Fat Amy stammers, “It was all Grace’s idea!”

Of course the only time the other girl actually uses my name is when she’s blaming me for something. While I did come up with the idea to freeze the bras, Amy had decided that it’d be even better if they were soaking wet.

“Yes, I’m sure the kid just decided to prank us without you bribing her to help,” Stacie quirks an eyebrow at her, “she doesn’t seem like she’s cheap.”

I beam proudly.

The pride doesn’t last though, because the redheaded co-captain gives the girls a nod and they all raise their pillows.

“Not the money maker!” Amy cries, covering her face, “You can hit the squirt’s face, she’s not as good looking as me!”

Her pleas are ignored when Lilly’s pillow smacks her in the face. 

The rest of the group follows and I curl into the fetal position to protect my face, laughing while I do so. Most of them seem to enjoy Fat Amy’s screaming, so they focus long enough on her to give me time to crawl into the kitchen.

“Going somewhere?” Emily holds her hand behind her back.

“Okay, okay,” I put my hands up in surrender, “you win, I’m sorry, you can get a free shot.”

Instead of the feeling of a pillow coming into contact with my face, something soft nudges my hands. I glance up to see Emily holding her pillow out to me, a beaming smile on her face.

“Truce?”

“Truce.”

She turns and crouches down, but it takes me a minute before I get it and jump onto her back. I push away the fear that the clumsy girl will drop me when we make it into the other room. My war cry gives us away and Lilly looks up just in time to see the pillow before it hits her. 

The room goes completely silent, most of them looking shocked, while Lilly seems surprised that I’d managed to land a hit. Well, I made my bed, I might as well lie in it.

“Charge!”

All sides seem to be forgotten at my yell. 

Pillows are flying, feathers are everywhere and girls are screaming. This is the most cliche thing that I’d ever done, but it is so much fun.

The clearing of a throat attracts our attention, and we all stop and turn towards Beca, who’s trying not to crack a smile.

“You know this sets women back like 30 years, right?”

She then proceeds to hold up a very interesting looking card, saying she found it on the porch. It makes a noise when she opens it and slams it closed, surprised before opening it again. It makes the same noise, which I think is just a person thats singing trying to hold a note.

Beca reads it and tells the group that they’ve been invited to some kind of party, and before I can ask if we’re about to get murdered, Chloe announces that they’re going.

Knowing that I’m not going to be able to get out of it, I head up the stairs with the rest of them to get dressed

There goes an evening in my pajamas.

________________________________

 

We’re about to murdered.

Is my first thought when I step foot onto the porch of this mansion in the middle of nowhere. I know that I’m the youngest, but apparently, I’m the smartest, too.

Beca knocks on the door and a slit opens up. She says the password, but ends up having to make a fart noise before the mysterious person behind the door grants us entrance. 

The man that greets us looks slightly homeless — and I should know — with his interesting outfit choice. He greets the Bellas excitedly, when he notices my presence.

“Oh, hello!” The man greets me, “Who do we have here?”

I hide behind Beca, not wanting any more attention from the guy, than necessary.

“Sorry,” Laughs the girl in front of me, “she’s just shy,”

Am not.

He shrugs, “Anyway, come in, come in.”

We’re led into a beautiful kitchen, but I hang back to walk beside Emily. I know that the tall freshman will volunteer to be my shield, if I ask her too.

“Can you believe it, Grace?” She grabs my arm and bounces, “I’m finally going to get to sing!”

I laugh at her excitement, “You’ll be great, Em.”

Our attention is drawn back to the rest of the group, when the man yells at Amy for touching his goose.

Wait, what?

Oh, it’s an actual goose statue.

It wouldn’t surprise me if Fat Amy tried to touch his other goose.

He opens a door that leads to a set of stairs, and when Chloe follows right behind him, I jump forward to take Beca’s hand, effectively stopping the rest of the group.

“Are we seriously going into a strangers’ basement? Isn’t that a no-no in stranger danger 101?”

The older girl just pats my shoulder, “Well, we can’t just leave Chloe. Plus, we have Lilly,” While the girl in question whispers something about a grenade.

I take a large step away from her.

“Point taken, lets go.”

As we walk down the never-ending staircase, I start to hear voices. They get louder the closer we get, and surprisingly the sight that greets us isn’t a torture chamber.

This guy has turned his basement into some kind of underground club. Music is playing and there’s a whole lot of people here. There’s a bar, where a guy is serving drinks and I spot Emily’s special friend Benji, and the rest of the Treblemakers. 

I take a seat at the bar, so that I can get something to drink, but before I can say anything, Chloe cuts in.

“She’ll have a Shirley Temple,”

You’d think I was an alcoholic, not to mention I look like I’m twelve. No one in their right mind would give me anything. I’m pretty sure she just wants an excuse to act like a parent. 

I take a sip of the sweet drink and thank the bartender, looking up just in time to see my favorite Wiener Schnitzels approach the Bellas. 

Once again, Beca becomes a complete and utter mess at the sight of the blonde leader and ends up complimenting her instead of insulting her. If I didn’t know that Beca has a boyfriend, I’d think that her redheaded co-captain was jealous with the glare that she’s sending the brunette right now.

Actually, she probably is jealous. For the past couple of weeks, the other Bellas have been dropping subtle hints that the captains haven’t been picking up on, that they’re in love with each other.

It’s actually really funny, because the both of them are completely oblivious to the looks they both send each other when the other isn’t looking. 

I almost want to believe it, but Beca does have a boyfriend, and Chloe has someone named Tom.

Now, the tall male DSM member is busy inputing whatever nonsense that comes to his mind and Beca is still floundering for words.

Sighing, I hop off of my stool and head over the group.

“Oh, here comes the Bellas’ little mascot,” I learned her name was Kommissar, after an extensive internet search, grins.

“Hey,” I smirk, unaffected by her size, “What’s the difference between a German and a shopping cart?”

Kommissar quirks an eyebrow, “Vhat?”

“A shopping cart has a mind of its own!” I exchange high fives with Fat Amy and Stacie, really proud of myself for remembering that one.

It takes her a moment to comprehend my joke, but I know she gets it when the smirk is wiped from her face. She turns to the rest of her group and leaves with a laugh.

“Thank you internet!” I laugh, along with most of the girls. 

“Damn, kid,” CR pats me on the back, “you’ve got some balls of steel.”

“I’ll be here all week,” I bow.

Our laughter is interrupted by the not-so homeless man hitting a gong with a giant stick. He proceeds to say that he brought everyone here for a riff-off, which is a mystery to me. All I can understand, is that the prize is a 42,000 dollar gift card to Dave N’ Busters and the Green Bay Packers are here.

I’ll definitely be introducing myself to those guys later.

When the a cappella groups form a circle, I leave the Bellas to go and watch from the bar, where I’m not squeezed in between Emily and some random guy I don’t know.

I have to say, this whole riff-off thing is pretty interesting. This is the first time I’ve actually heard all the Bellas sing together, and they’re actually pretty good, great even. 

The first ones to lose, surprisingly, are the Treblemakers, and I’m pretty sure Emily is to blame. Benji had started off strong, but one look in the clumsy brunette’s direction sent him off on some kind of tangent about respect, therefore completely messing up the lyrics to ‘Baby Got Back’.

Sadly, the Green Bay Packers go next. I really wanted to see them sing more, but they can’t seem to find a song and get knocked out.

The Tone-Hangers are the third to lose. Some guy claiming to be a personal assistant to John Mayer sings a song by someone who didn’t date him, and loses it for his group.

That just leaves the Bellas, and…

Das Sound Machine.

Those Wiener Schnitzels.

They go back and forth for a while, and I’m starting to think that the girls can actually win this. Can you imagine all the tokens you can get at Dave N’ Busters with 42,000 dollars?

A lot.

Emily jumps in and I’m extremely happy that she gets the chance to sing, when the host or whatever stops her and then continues to ask her if she was singing an original song.

Apparently, yes is the wrong answer, because the crowd immediately starts to boo her. I glare at the lot of them before they all disperse and I see Chloe and Beca walk away with the clumsy girl.

“We don’t, hey, we don’t want that,” I catch the end of whatever conversation had taken place as Chloe glares at the freshman and walks away. 

“Becaw!” 

Jesse comes our way, wearing a huge smile.

“Hello Emily, Grace,” I smile and wave at him.

It’s not that I don’t like the Treblemaker leader, I just don’t get why Beca likes him so much. They’re complete opposites. You’d think that’d be cute and all, but I just feel like it won’t work forever.

Jesse asks if Beca wants to go meet the Packers and I almost follow the two, before I catch the sad look on Emily’s face.

“C’mon Em,” I nudge her with my elbow, “I liked your song. You have more talent in your pinkie than that guy has in his body.”

“Really?”  
“Really.” She grins and I lead her to where I see a certain magic loving Treblemaker standing.

“Hey, Benji!” He looks up and his eyes widen, “Brought ya something!”

I push the girl towards him and he catches her before she can trip. I watch them for a moment before skipping off to meet the Green Bay Packers.

Maybe I’ll try and swipe that gift card from those German wankers.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter is mostly a filler. I was going to skip to the convention performance, but I had a little bit of writer’s block and ended up writing this instead. Sorry if it’s a little short!
> 
> Disclaimer: I don’t own Pitch Perfect

After weeks of Beca disappearing off to who knows where, I have finally figured out where she’s been going.

Well, Fat Amy did, but I was there too. 

One Monday, the short DJ was in a rush and had forgotten something upstairs, leaving her purse on the kitchen counter, where Amy and I were eating cereal. The blonde had reached into the bag and pulled out Beca’s wallet. 

“Hey! That’s Beca’s!” I had smacked her shoulder, but she just brushed me off.

“Don’t worry, we do this every month,”

She opened it, and a small rectangular piece of plastic had fallen out. When I picked it up, I realized that it was an I.D. for something called Residual Heat. I opened my mouth to show Amy, but she had already been looking after snatching a twenty from the wallet.

“Residual Heat? Sounds like something that Stacie goes through after sex,” She had commented, taking the card from me.

Gross.

“I don’t think that’s what it is,” I told her, pushing down the cereal threatening to make a reappearance.

“I guess it could be that recording studio that’s like ten minutes away,” 

A recording studio?

“Do you think she’s working there?” I asked, confused as to why we didn’t already know that.

“Probably,” Amy shrugged, putting it back in the wallet and throwing it into the purse, “She said something last year about applying for an internship,”

Before I could ask why Beca would keep that a secret, the brunette herself is racing into the room to grab her bag. 

“Bye Amy,” She reached over to ruffle my hair, “see ya, kid,”

With that, she had left. 

I turned to Fat Amy, who was putting her dish in the sink, “Aren’t we going to ask her about this?” 

“Maybe later,” She started walking towards the living room, “but right now I’ve got some stuff to buy.” She waved around the bill she’d stolen.

That had been the end of that topic for a while,

____________________________________

On Thursday, most of the girls had left to go to class, so I was stuck at the house with Stacie, waiting for Emily to get here, so we could go hang out on campus. I’m still not allowed to go anywhere by myself, so Emily has to come here from class and then all the way back, which doesn’t seem fair. When I mentioned it to Stacie though, she had waved me off and said that the girl was like the energizer bunny, and she could take it.

I’m not sure when she’ll get here, so I’m standing outside of Stacie’s room, bored and a little nervous.

I have’t spent much one on one time with the tall girl, and she can be extremely intimidating, so I don’t want to annoy her or anything.

“You know,” A voice drawls from the other side of the door, “I can see the shadow of your feet under the door. Are you just gonna stand there, or are you gonna come in?”

Glancing down at my feet, I shift uncomfortably before opening the door.

I’ve never really been in Chloe and Stacie’s room before. I walk by it all the time, but usually both girls are out or with everyone else downstairs. 

Stacie is laying on her bed, with a large textbook open in front of her.

Chloe’s side is bright and cheery, unsurprisingly, while the tall brunette’s side is more relaxed with neutral colors, giving off a more chic vibe.

“What do you need?” Her voice pulls me from my thoughts and she closes the book.

“I was just bored, but you’re busy, so I’ll just, um, find somewhere else to be,”

Stacie takes pity on me and saves me from my stuttering, “It’s cool, you can stay. I’m just studying for a test, but I’m pretty sure I’ll ace it.”

She puts the book on her bedside table and pats the spot next to her.

Nervously, I tip toe over and sit as far to the edge as I possibly can.

“I don’t bite,” She quirks an eyebrow, “well I do, but I won’t bite you,” 

I giggle nervously and finally take notice of the book she had been reading.

“Advanced Astro Physics?” I’m not even sure what that is.

“Oh, yeah,” Stacie waves her hand, “I’m going to be an astrophysicist,”

Even though I don’t know what that is, it has to be pretty impressive, so I grin and offer her a shy high five, “Wow, that’s amazing!”

“It’s okay,” She shrugs and produces a nail file from nowhere.

Huh.

I can’t believe I didn’t know that she was studying that. You’d think after spending so much time in a house with these girls, I would know a lot more about them. Don’t get me wrong, I know plenty that I wish I didn’t, but I learn more every single day.

Flipping through the pages, extremely long complicated words and equations litter the book. 

“Wow,” I breathe, “and I thought algebra was hard,”

Stacie laughs and pats my shoulder, “It’s not for everyone, but-,” She’s interrupted by her phone buzzing. The name Aubrey is flashing on her iPhone and there’s only one person that I’ve heard of in this house that goes by that name.

Beca had shown me pictures of her first year in the Bellas and told me stories of the evil blonde drill sergeant who used to be the leader. Chloe had smacked her in the side, before explaining to me that Aubrey was her best friend and a good person. I still think I believe Beca, though. Chloe has a tendency to look at everything in a better light.

The smile on the brunette girl’s face next to me, draws me out of my thoughts. I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen this look on Stacie before. Her usual smirk, is instead replaced by a soft smile, and her cheeks are bright red.

Stacie never blushes.

Like, ever.

“Um, since when do you talk to Aubrey?” 

As if she forgot I was here, Stacie jumps, and drops her phone on the bed where I can see the smirking emoji that she had sent to the former Bella captain.

“Oh, um, all the time,” She stutters, “we talk about guys and stuff,”

Holy crap. 

Who is this girl next to me?

“Stacie, are you and Aubrey a thing?” I ask in my most calming voice.

“What? No!” The girls eyes get wide, “We’re just friends!”

I roll my eyes and hand her back her phone. I’m starting to thing this entire house is full of a bunch of lesbians. At least Stacie knows she likes Aubrey, and not like Beca and Chloe, who are complete idiots.

Before I can question her any further, there’s a series of knocks on the bedroom door that can only belong to one person.

Stacie relaxes and her usual smirk forms on her lips. 

Saved by the bell.

“Hey, Legacy.” She waves to the girl and picks up her textbook, then turns her smirk to me, “Thanks for babysitting, the kid won’t leave me alone and I’m trying to study.”

I glare at her for a moment, before getting up to leave with Emily. The clumsy girl hugs me excitedly, then grabs my hand, leading me out the door. Needing to get the last word, I look back to Stacie and smile sweetly.

“Tell Aubrey I said to keep it PG,”

The answering glare is enough of a response, so I leave with the excitable freshman.

_______________________________

The walk to campus is mostly full of Emily blabbering on about anything and everything. I feel like some people would find it annoying, but I find it endearing. I wish that I had the zest for life that this girl has.

“So, Em, are you excited for the performance tomorrow?”

“Oh, yeah!” Emily claps her hands, “I can’t wait, it’s gonna be aca-awesome!”

I’m still not quite sure why the girls add ‘aca’ to almost any word they want to, but you won’t catch me doing that.

“Do you think you guys are ready?” I ask, not sure that they are.

“Yep! We’re totally going to rock it!” She skips a little bit ahead of me. Yet again, I question who the older one is.

I guess they’ll find out at practice later.

She bites her lip and deflates a little bit, “It’s kinda sad, you know?” 

“What do you mean?” I cock my head, confused.

“All the girls are seniors, so they’re gonna graduate this year. You’ll probably go with one of them, and I’ll be all by myself. I don’t think I can run this group like Beca does,” My stomach lurches at the sad lilt in her voice as she rambles on.

I’ve noticed that the legacy pretty much idolizes Beca, even though they don’t spend a lot of time together. Her words also bring back the uneasy feelings of not knowing where I’ll be at the end of this year. I’m pretty sure that my stay with the Bellas, is only temporary. 

Almost all of them are going to be moving on, and the baggage of a foster kid, isn’t something any of them need.

“Hey, Emily,” 

“What?”

“Put a sock in it,” Her eyes widen at my words but at least the blubbering stops, “If anyone can lead a new group of Bellas, it’s you,”

A shit-eating grin starts to form on her lips, “You think so?”

“I know so,” I barely finish before she lifts me off my feet in an embrace and swings me around in a circle, squealing.

“Em!” I laugh, as she comes to a halt, “Put me down!”

“Aw, but you’re so cute!” She literally bops me on nose.

I’m not cute. 

“Whatever,” I push her off me, “Let’s go feed the ducks, you dork.”

We hang out around the park for a while, getting lunch from one of the venders. After that, we fed the ducks at Emily’s assistance. I was pretty sure the ducks were going to choke on the huge chunks of bread the girl was throwing into the water. 

A little bit later, Emily’s phone chimed and she grabs my arm and starts leading me away, saying that Chloe had sent a group text to make sure no one missed practice. 

The auditorium is not too far away, and we make it there first, waiting for Beca to get here with the keys.

By the time the short brunette gets here, the rest of us have been waiting a solid twenty minutes, Amy getting ready to break the door down. I’m not sure why though. I’m pretty sure that Lilly could pick the lock in seconds.

“Where have you been, Beca?” Chloe pushes her way to the front of the group, “We were supposed to start at 6!”

“Sorry, I was hanging out with Jesse and we lost track of time,” She opens the door and we all file in.

Fat Amy and I exchanged disbelieving looks, but I nudge the other girl before she can open her mouth and set off a series of unnecessary events. 

The final practice before the performance is interesting to say the least. All I can say is that there are a lot of props.

A lot.

There’s so much going on that I’m not quite sure where to focus my eyes. At the end, Chloe asks me what I think, and with the rest of the girls looking at me with excited eyes, I have no choice but to lie.

“Looks great!” I cringe as they exchange high fives.

It’s too late for them to change the set anyway. 

Hopefully they’re able to pull it off.


	8. Chapter 8

Let’s just say the Bella’s performance was the opposite of great.

At least nobody died.

We had taken the Bella bus to what I found out is a senior citizen place. I mean seriously, guys, you couldn’t have picked a place with people a little younger?

The group had gotten ready in a room together. They each had on golden track suits and their hair was braided or teased. I’m pretty sure they haven’t realized that Chloe had booked a retirement home.

After gathering in a group huddle, they headed off to the stage, while I sat next to the youngest looking people, a man and a woman, who turned out to be a cappella commentators.

And not very good ones.

Yay, me.

The performance starts off pretty good, but once they start using all their different props, I have to stop myself from praying for them. 

Both commentators are annoying as hell, and aren’t helping my anxiety for the singers on stage.

Someone ends up back-flipping into Cynthia Rose, who gets pushed into the line of fire.

Literally.

Her hair sets on fire, and Fat Amy runs to help her out. 

Most of the group, is trying to stop Flo’s hamster wheel thing, while Beca is frozen in shock, and Chloe is barely holding it together. Amy finally gets CR’s hair situation under control, and Ashley wraps a bandage around the woman’s head. Sensing Chloe’s fuming glare, they all head to get their stuff. I go straight to the bus, so I don’t have to be yelled at.

When they all board the bus, Beca and Emily sit on either side of me. It’s still unsurprisingly quiet and the girls all seem to be doing something to escape the awkward silence.

Emily is writing in her song book, Jessica and Ashley are up front driving, CR has her headphones on, Amy seems to be napping, Flo is on her phone, Stacie is filing her nails, Lilly is playing with a lighter, and Chloe is glaring holes in the ceiling.

I spread my body out along the seat, my back leaning against Emily, while my feet just barely touch Beca’s thigh.

“Hey, is that for a class?” Beca looks past me, to get Emily’s attention.

I can feel the tall girl freeze and jerk her head to look at her captain,” No, its uh, when I get stressed, words just sort of flow out of me and so I try and channel them into my-,”

“Are we just going to ignore what happened back there?” Chloe interrupts her, “Guys! Hello, the Worlds are right around the corner and you guys are acting like we didn’t just eat a big bag of ah!”

I cover my ears as the girls start to blame each other for ruining the song.

What the hell?

“And Grace!” My name coming from the redheads mouth gets my attention, “Why didn’t you tell us the set wasn’t good? Did you think it was funny for us to make fools of ourselves?”

The bus is silent as most of the girls gawk at Chloe, usually as sweet as pie, for yelling at me.

Her words hit me hard, and I try to keep the tears forming in my eyes from falling. Usually, I’m pretty much a badass, but hearing from someone I’ve come to trust that they think I purposely let them fail, really upsets me.

“Chloe, it’s not Grace’s fault we messed up,” Beca pats my leg reassuringly, “we should have known it wasn’t going to work.”

Chloe turns back to me and her eyes soften, “Sorry, Grace,” She gives me a small smile, “I shouldn’t have blamed you like that. You didn’t know any better.”

“It’s okay,” I return her smile.

With that, the tension lessens just a little bit and everyone goes back to what they were doing before the ginger volcano exploded. 

Emily and I chat a little for the rest of the ride and make plans to watch a movie when we get back, both of us still a little upset for being blamed for things.

________________________

Once we return to the house, some of the girls leave to get away from the tension, while others—namely, Chloe—stalk around the house, adding to the it. Emily goes into the kitchen to make popcorn, and I browse through the selection of movies provided by Netflix.

“What are we watching?” Emily plops down right next to me, the popcorn in the bowl nearly spilling over at the sudden movement. 

She leaves no space between us, her thigh, shoulder and hip pressed right up to mine. This, for some reason, causes butterflies to flutter around in my stomach. I shift a little to put my feet underneath me and wipe my clammy hands on the blanket next to me.

This isn’t the first time I’ve gotten this unknown feeling in the close proximity to the tall freshman. For the past couple weeks, she’s been able to elicit these types of reactions from me, with her very affectionate personality and excitable clinginess. Whenever she had talked Benji, I had gotten a tight feeling in my chest, even though I like the magician.

“Grace?” A finger pokes my cheek, “Are you in there?”

Bring myself back with the shake of the head, I turn to the girl, who’s grinning at me.

“What movie did you pick?”

I look at the selection in front of me and make a quick decision, “The Cheetah Girls?”

Emily squeals and wraps her arms around me, “I LOVE The Cheetah Girls! They’re aca-amazing!” I glare at her, “Or just regular amazing,”

I crack a smile to let her know I’m joking, but her arm that’s still around me is distracting.

She passes me the popcorn and presses play on the remote, scooting impossibly closer to me as the opening credits appear on-screen.

The movie is playing, but I’m barely paying my usual favorite Disney movie any attention. I’m too busy being super aware of every shift the girl next to me makes. It feels like I’ve just been dropped in the Saharan Desert. She’s bouncing around singing the songs, and mouthing the lines that some of the actors are saying. I’d usually find that last half really annoying, but the girl next to me is just so cute. She’s actually pretty aca-awesome.

Cute?

Aca-awesome.

What the hell is happening to me?

I’ve never felt this way before, especially about another girl.

My hands are starting to tremble, and my knee bobs up and down. Thankfully, the other girl just seems to think bouncing to the music.

The end credits can’t roll soon enough, and Emily jumps up and announces that she’s going to bed.

“I’m gonna stay down here for a while,” I tell her, my heartbeat slowing down a little now that we aren’t touching anymore.

Emily shrugs, gives me a tight hug, my heart starts beating out of my chest again, and skips up the steps with her blanket.

My lungs feel like they’re going to collapse, so I make a quick decision and grab my sweatshirt, heading for the door. If I was in the right state of mind, I’d be afraid of the consequences that there will be when they find out I left without anyone coming with me.

I walk towards the one place I know will be completely vacated.

The auditorium.

Picking the lock on the door is child’s play, and when I find the light switch, I head to the beautiful grand piano in the center of the room. When I was in school, I spent lunch in the music room everyday, where I taught myself how to play the piano. Before, I’d taken my GED, I had been trying to pick up the ukulele.

My fingers glide along the keys to the opening of “Clarity” by Zedd, slowing down the song to add more of a soulful vide, pouring all the feelings I’ve had for the last couple of hours. It’s so easy to just get lost in the music,

And I do.

I must play through almost all the songs I know, but I save the best for last.

One of my favorite’s by John Legend, “Ordinary People,” the first song I’d ever played. The song is actually about how relationships are unstable and can fall apart, but it makes me think about the family I never got to have. The family that left me before I could even know who they were.

“Maybe you’ll stay,”

They didn’t stay.

“Maybe you’ll leave,”

They left me.

“Maybe you’ll return,”

They never did.

“We’re just ordinary people,

We don’t know which way to go,

Cause we’re ordinary people,

Maybe we should take it slow,”

Tears drip onto the keys, deep, utter sadness consuming me.

“Take it slow, oh oh, this time we’ll take it slow,”

“If I wasn’t so pissed I’d give you a round of applause,” A voice rings out, making me hit the keys wrong, the wrong chord echoing around the room.

I turn around to meet the tall brunette’s piercing gaze. She cocks her hand on her hip and purses her lips, looking more annoyed than I’ve ever seen her. I wipe the stray tears from my cheeks and quickly get to my feet. I try and stutter out a response.

Stacie holds her hand up to stop me, “Get your butt over here so we can get back before the boss calls the cops. She’s pulling out her ginger hair, and we don’t need a bald captain,”

I walk over to her with my head down, unable to meet her eyes.

“I’m sorry,” I squeak.

“I’m more angry that I was woken up from my beauty sleep, than because you went missing,” She pats me on the shoulder, “but Chloe’s out of her mind with worry and Beca isn’t there to calm her down.”

Out of her mind is one way to put it. 

It’s a surprise the cops haven’t already been called with the noise I can hear at the end of the street.

“Flo! You were in the kitchen! Didn’t you hear her leave?”  
Greets us when we open the front door.

“In my country,” The foreign girl starts, “we’d send the children out at night to scare away the rats in the streets,”

“Not helping, girl,” CR shakes her head, “I’m sure she’s fine Chlo. Jessica and Ashley went to the Trebles to see if she went there, you know how she likes to mess with them. And Stacie’s checking the auditorium so she should be back any minute.”

“Oh, I’m back,” Stacie cuts in from behind me, “and I have found our straggler.”

Chloe's head turns so fast, she probably got whiplash. She takes four quick strides before she’s inches in front of me. Then, she moves towards me fast, and I flinch thinking she’s going to hit me. 

Arms wrap around me and red hair tickles my nose, “Oh, Grace! I was so worried!”

She pulls back and holds me at arms length, “But now I’m really mad,” Her relieved smile turns into a frown, “what were you thinking?”

“I just needed some air,” I kick my foot, nervously.

“You should have asked someone to go with you! You know the rule!” The crazy look is back in her eyes.

“I know,” I hold back tears for the second time today, “I’m sorry, it won’t happen again,”

“It better not!”

“I promise,” Chloe wraps her arms around me again and squeezes the life out of me.

The front door opens and Jessica, Ashley, and Beca come through, the last looking around wide eyed.

“Grace! What the hell, dude?” She marches over to stand in front of Chloe and I, “Ashley and Jessica told me you disappeared!”

“Well, I did, but I’m back now.” I can’t believe we’re doing this again. I’ve already been yelled at once, so why is it happening twice?

Beca looks ready to tell me off, but an equally annoyed Chloe steps between the two of us, “Beca, stop. If you were here an hour ago, you would’ve been allowed to be mad, but you disappeared too, so you don’t get to do any yelling. Grace, go upstairs and go to bed.”  
Wow.

That’s the most parent-like phrase I’ve ever heard come from the redhead. Not wanting to find out what would happen if I didn’t, I trudge up the stairs. I’m almost to the top when her voice calls out from behind me.

“Oh and by the way, as punishment you have to participate in all the activities at the retreat this weekend!”

The girls must have been surprised by her words, because they all shout out the same exact thing.

“RETREAT?!”


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello friends! I bring with me another chapter of Honorary Bella! We’ve finally made it to The Lodge at Fallen Leaves. I’m pretty excited! Hope you enjoy.
> 
> Disclaimer: As always, I don’t own Pitch Perfect

I’ve never been on a retreat before. 

I imagine it must be kinda like a summer camp, but I’ve never been to one of those before either. 

The place we’re currently headed to is called The Lodge at Fallen Leaves, where Chloe claims that the Bella’s are going to find their sound again. My punishment for sneaking out is to come with them, but I know they wouldn’t have let me stay on my own anyway.

But I’m not going to mention that so I can avoid further punishment.

None of the girls—besides Chloe, obviously—seem all that happy to be on a bus at seven in the morning, and I can’t blame them. The redheaded co-captain had literally banged pots and pans to wake the house up. I’m pretty sure everyone is still a little sour because of it.

Emily would be another exception to the group. She’s currently bouncing up and down in her seat beside me. Being that I wanted a shield from the disappointed glances Beca keeps shooting me, I’m not in a position to complain. Before we’d left, I had watched with my stomach clenched as Benji flirted hopelessly with the clumsy brunette. I still can’t put a finger on why that bothers me so much. They are pretty much a perfect match.

The bus coming to a complete stops breaks me out of my thoughts and looking up, I take in the single building in the wooden area we’ve come to.

The Lodge at Fallen Leaves

We’ve arrived.

Yayyyy.

Everyone is grabbing their suitcases and heading towards the front of the bus to get off. I lift my duffel bag from the rack but I bump into Beca before I can follow them.

“Why do I have to be here?” I whine, pouting like a toddler.

Beca narrows her eyes, “Maybe if you hadn’t run off on your own,” She says, “Plus, if I have to suffer in the great outdoors, everyone does.”

The both of us hop off the bus and follow the rest of the group up the long driveway towards the lone building. There’s a lot of trees and I can see a lake in the distance. Chloe’s excited squeal draws my focus over the where the group, minus Em, is running towards a blonde woman with a gun.

Wrong way guys, I think, you’re supposed to run away from someone holding a firearm.

This must be Aubrey, Chloe’s best friend and former captain of the Barden Bellas before she graduated. 

“And you have to be Grace!” She greets me when the hug fest is over, “I’ve heard so much about you from Chlo,”

I wave, “I’ve heard a lot about you, too. Nice to meet you.”

Aubrey throws Beca a glare before replying, “Hopefully all you’ve heard hasn’t come from our resident hobbit.”

Even though most of the bad things I’ve heard have been from Beca, “All good things, all good things,” because let’s be honest, I don’t want to offend her while she’s holding a shotgun.

Fat Amy then proceeds the ask where her room is and Aubrey informs us that we’ll be sleeping in tents. Sharing a tent isn’t the worse thing, since I slept in the Barden park for a couple weeks, but I’m not that keen on sharing my tent with this group of weirdos.

“Alright, fall in line Bellas!”

The girls line up, and I stand next to and a little behind Emily, because Aubrey is still holding her gun. When she finally hands the weapon off to some guy, she starts to yell individually at each of them, skipping Emily and I.

She leads us over to a campsite, where we are expected to build our own tents, which she only gives us two of. Apparently no one knows how to do anything in this group, so Em and I build both of the tents and almost die when a tree branch falls on one of them. 

Great, now I have to share a tent with all the weirdos.

Everyone disperses to do their own thing before it gets dark, so I have to get permission before I can go off with Emily.

“Hey Chloe,” I find the redhead by a picnic table with Beca, “Can Emily and I go look around?”

She purses her lips like she’s trying to come up with the million dollar answer, “Yeah, just come back before it gets dark!”

“Seriously?” Beca asks, “We’re going to leave Legacy, the girl who spilled milk all over her laptop that was ten feet away from her, in charge of Grace?”

“Hey! I’m not a baby! I don’t need someone to be in charge of me.”

They both ignore me to keep arguing, “Emily is perfectly capable of making sure Grace doesn’t get into any trouble.” Chloe points out.

Beca rolls her eyes, “The girl is as clumsy as a newborn giraffe. Her and Grace could probably set water on fire by accident.”

Trying not the be too offended at her statement, I look up in exasperation while the two’s argument changes subject to something else.

Stacie is right, these girls are like an old married couple.  
I should start selling Bechloe merchandise. I’m sure all the girls would buy some and maybe then the two co-captains could take a hint.

“Okay, bye then, I guess I’ll see you guys later.” I slowly back away from the bickering duo and head to where I last saw Emily.

Butterflies start to flutter in my stomach, the closer I get to the tall brunette. I’m still not willing to admit to myself that this is anything more than a girl crush, not unlike one you would have for a celebrity.

“Hey, Em.” I laugh when she jumps at my words.

“Grace!” She slaps me on the shoulder, almost knocking me off my feet due to our size difference, “Don’t sneak up on people like that!”

“Sorry, so what are we doing?”

“Ooo! I wanted to go for a walk around,” My face heats up and my hand gets clammy as the girl grabs my hand and starts pulling me along after her, “My family always went camping when I was little. I love it!”

We walk around for awhile, Emily never letting go of my hand. I’m pretty sure we’ve covered the entire facility by the time we get to our final destination, the docks by the lake. We sit on the edge of the wooden dock, our feet dangling over the edge above the water.

“So, how are you and Benji doing?” Even asking the simple question causes a stab of jealously to shoot through me.

Emily tilts her head to the side as she faces me, “What do you mean?”

“Have you guys gone on a date or kissed yet?” I want to know, but at the same time I really don’t.

“I don’t think it’s really going anywhere,” She admits, honestly, “He’s really sweet and all, but beside a cappella we really have nothing in common.”

“You’re not into magic?” I smirk when she shakes her head vigorously.

“Or Star Wars, I’ve never seen any of them!”

“I guess you guys really aren’t a match made in heaven,” Emily lowers her head dejectedly at my words.

“I don’t think I’ll ever find anyone,” Tears start forming at the corners of her eyes.

“Yes, you will. You’re a really catch, Em.” You don’t know how much I really mean that, I want to add.  
“I’m a weirdo,” She pouts.

I really want to kiss that pout right off her lips.

Huh?

What is wrong with me?

Emily is two years older than me, way out of my league, and probably straight as a light post. I don’t think I’m even gay, but she just ignites these feelings in me like gasoline to a campfire.

“I think you’re beautiful, Em.” A blush creeps up my neck as soon as the words fall out of my mouth.

“Really?”

“I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t know it was true.” Her brown eyes meet my green ones and she bites her lip as if considering something. She seems to be leaning closer and for a brief moment I think she’s gonna kiss me. 

Before I ruin it.

“I guess it’s for the best, Benji and you, I mean. You’d probably impale yourself on one of his swords, anyway.” I say quickly and she leans back with pretend hurt expression.

Unexpectedly, she nudges me with her elbow. 

Caught completely off guard, the power behind the nudge sends me right off the edge of the dock.

Right into the lake.

Her laughter greets me when I resurface and I’m too shocked to glare at her.

“You pushed me off the dock!”

“I didn’t mean too! It’s just you’re so small and I forget my own strength!”

“Help me out?” I hold out my arm so she can pull me up.

Emily grasps my hand and I yank her in with everything I have. We splash each other for awhile, before she points out that it’s getting dark and we have to get back to the tents, so we get out and dry ourselves off a little before heading back.

A noise from the bushes attracts my attention and I put my hand over Emily’s—who’s still rambling—mouth. I point over to where the sounds are coming from and her eyes widen. I put my finger to my lips and tip toe slowly over to the shrubbery. 

What I find is something I don’t think I wanted to see.  
Stacie and Aubrey are in a full out make-out session, making their way to second base. 

I don’t think I’ll ever be able to unsee this.

“Oh my stars!” Both girls shoot apart at Emily’s yelp and blush tomato red with embarrassment.

Once Stacie figures out who stumbled upon their intimate moment, her nervous look is replaced with a smirk.

“Legacy, child,” She greets us, her tone threatening, “What brings you two over to this neck of the woods?”

Aubrey still seems too shocked to speak and Emily isn’t fairing much better.

“Stacie, Aubrey, hey!” I wave, gripping Emily’s wrist and pulling her away, “Fancy meeting you here. We were heading back to camp, so,”

“Not so fast,” Stacie’s hand is on my shoulder before I can make my getaway, “you two will keep quiet about this right?”

The legacy Bella and I nod with wide eyes.

“Good, because I don’t want to have to tell Chloe who put flour in her hairdryer last week, do I Grace?”

“No sir, I mean ma’am,” I start backing away slowly, “see ya!” 

The two of us take off at a sprint once we get out of eyesight, both taken by surprise at what we had found.

But, before we can talk about it, we make it back to where the rest of the group is at the tents. They’re all discussing sleeping arrangements and apparently I get stuck between Fat Amy and Emily, the latter making my palms sweat.

“Why are you guys wet?” Flo asks.

“Emily pushed me in the lake, so I pulled her in with me,” The Guatemalan girl accepts my answer without any more of an explanation.

Stacie makes her way back a half an hour later looking a lot more put together than when we’d stumbled upon her. She makes up something about looking for some fresh meat, which I guess she found wink, wink.

A little while later, everyone is settled down for the night, when Amy says she has to go to the bathroom and requests a song so that she can finish. Chloe starts singing ‘Torn’ by Natalie Imbruglia and most of the girls, besides Beca and CR, join in. I even hum along to the catchy song.

“You should sing more,” Emily informs me, “You have a nice voice,”

“I don’t sing,” I mumble.

Fat Amy comes back and lies down next to me, which slightly disgusts me because she said she used the side on the tent as toilet paper.

I’m really not sure what tomorrow is going to bring, but I hope Beca and Chloe can finally hash out whatever the hell is wrong with them.


	10. Chapter 10

“Up and at em, Bellas!”

Someone’s yell followed by a high-pitched whistle is what brings me back to consciousness.

A warm weight under my cheek and across my waist draws my attention to the realization that sometime during the night I had shifted position to lay my head on Emily’s abdomen. The warmth across my stomach, is her long, slender arm. Both points of contact feel as if I’m on fire. My eyes travel up her arm, to her neck and then up to her face, where I meet her doe brown eyes.

Shit.

“Hi,” She smiles softly and stretches, the other girls starting to move around. 

I’m a little disappointed at the loss of contact, but hopefully my blush will die down a bit, “Hey,”

The shrill whistle sounds again, and it scares me so much that I jump, losing all contact with the clumsy girl and smacking my forehead right into Fat Amy’s.

“Owww,” I whine, rubbing at the now sore spot.

“Buck up, squirt,” The blonde girl says, seemingly unaffected, “I’m the numbah one kangaroo fighter in Tasmania, I’ve taken as many kicks to the head as years you’ve been alive.”

Maybe too many kicks to the head.

Everyone stumbles out of the tent to stand in front of Aubrey, who looks way too put together for 6 am.

“Alright, girls.” She claps her hands together, “Today, we will be doing several different team building activities to help you find your sound again.”

I raise my hand.

“Yes, Grace?”

“Um, do I have to participate in these activities?” The rest of the girls roll their eyes at my question.

Aubrey tilts her head to the side, “Of course you do, you’re an essential part of the group spirit, kind of like a mascot,” She quirks an eyebrow, “Will that be a problem?”

“No sir,”

“Good, now does anyone besides slightly shorter Mini-Beca have any questions?” Aubrey asks.

I’m kinda flattered that Aubrey compared me to Beca, but I’m also pretty sure that she said it just to get a rise out of the DJ.

Amy raises her hand, but CR nudges her in the ribs, and she quickly pulls it back down. 

Who knows what that question would have caused.

“Let’s go!” 

I’m gonna shove that whistle right down her throat.

——————————————-

The Bellas are not very good at team building activities, I come to learn.

So far, we’ve had to balance on a log and arrange ourselves height wise, with me unsurprisingly on the end. Then, we had to pull each other up onto a log that was at least six feet in the air. I had slipped and luckily Stacie had been there to catch me, still giving me a knowing look that had to do with last nights events. After that, the group had to lift each member through a web of ropes, where Lilly had gotten stuck and Amy had proclaimed her asian Jesus.

I’m not sure why no one found this as hilarious as I did.

“I can’t!” I’m currently standing on a platform more than fifty feet above the lake, “Can I please just go back down?”

Just looking over the edge at the water makes me physically ill. 

“Everyone has to do it,” Aubrey calls up, “The only way down is to jump,”

I gulp and Beca and Chloe stand on both sides of me.

“What’s wrong, Grace?” Chloe’s bright blue eyes are filled with concern, “Are you afraid of heights?”

“No,” I mumble, unconvincingly, peering over the edge once more, where Emily, who’s seated on the end of the giant blow up I’m supposed to land on, waves up at me.

“You sure, dude?” Beca asks me.

“Yes,” I sigh, looking at the wooden boards on the platform, “I’m scared of heights.”  
“It’s okay!” Chloe chirps, happily, “It’s completely safe. Bree wouldn’t let us do anything that was dangerous.”

I’m not too sure about that.

“Yeah, kid,” Beca adds, “We’ll be right behind you!”

For some reason, the new to me feelings of support really makes the fear die down a little bit.

“I guess so,” I gulp, stepping closer to the edge.

“You can do it, Grace!” Emily calls up, cupping her hands over her mouth, “I believe in you!”

‘Okay, Grace,’ I think to myself, ‘Do this to impress Emily,’.

Before I can change my mind, I take a couple steps back, rock on my heels twice, run, and launch myself over the edge. I clamp my eyes shut as I scream the entire way down. If anyone ever asks though, I’ll say I jumped like a champ.

My descent is stopped when my body makes contact with the blow up landing pad, the fabric surrounding me on all sides as my body sinks into it. Emily shrieks as she is simultaneously launched in the air, and into the water with a splash.

Before I have time to think, I hear a familiar scream and Beca’s voice.

“Grace, look out!”

A blonde blob appears that the top of the platform and shoots over the edge,.

“For Sparta!!!” Fat Amy yells, as she starts to fall.

Oh no.

I scramble over the float as fast as I can before I become a Grace pancake. I make about a third of the way, before I’m thrown into the air when Amy hits the other side. For a moment, I feel like I’m flying, before I start to fall, limbs flailing in every direction. The water is cold when I crash through it, and Emily swims over to me, since I’m too shocked to move.

“Great job!” She grins, grabbing my hand with both of hers.

Normally, I’d have already been as red as a tomato, but the mix of adrenaline and shock seems to have affected my brain, so all that comes out is a bunch of nonsensical sounds.

“Let’s go, silly,” She starts to drag me across the lake towards the dock.

When we get to the wooden strip Aubrey is standing on, she holds her hand out to me, and Emily pushes me up so that I can reach it. Then, she follows me out of the water.

I flop down onto the surface, warmed from the sun, and watch as the rest of the girls take their turns doing the plunge. Emily sits down next to me and places her hand on the small of my back, rubbing small circles into my back.

My muscles immediately tense, and I look over to see a soft smile on her face.

“I love this,” She says watching as Beca is launched into the air by Chloe, looking not-at-all thrilled, “This is everything I’ve ever dreamed it would be.”

“You dreamed of belonging in a group of girls who are various degrees of strange?”

She slaps me on the shoulder with her free hand, “No, I dreamed of finding a second family like my mom said I would. I also found a best friend.”

“Who?” My eyebrows furrow as I try to think of someone she’d talk about a lot.

Benji.

“You, you dummy,” She bops me on the nose, “I’m talking about you.”

My stomach clenches and is filled with butterflies at the same time at her words. I’m elated that the stunning, kind-hearted freshman thinks so highly of me, but at the same time, I’m scared that friends is all we’ll ever be, but I’ll still take it.

“That’s all I’ve ever wanted, too” I admit honestly, meeting her wide eyes, “A family and a best friend, that is. I didn’t think I’d ever have one.”

Emily’s smile spreads into a grin that should split her face in half, and wraps her arms around me, planting a kiss on my cheek.

“Well, now you do, and I’m sure the rest of the girls feel the same way.”

I bring my hand to my cheek, where it burns at the point where her lips made contact, too shocked to speak. 

Anything I could have said is interrupted by that damn whistle and Aubrey’s voice.

“Next up is the zipline!”  
Nooooooo.

Not more heights.

_______________________________________

I had finally been excused from the activities when they started to focus on singing, and that is, coincidentally, the exact moment things started to go downhill for the group.

More specifically, Beca and Chloe.

The girls had been singing a mashup, when the two co-captains started bickering again.

“Don’t you think we’ve all noticed how checked out you’ve been?” Chloe shrieks, gesturing wildly with her arms.

“Are you kidding me?” Beca shouts back.

They go at it for a little while longer, when Fat Amy has to get a word in, “Just tell her, Beca.” Then, she compares the two of them to a blowjob.

“Tell me what?” Chloe's face is almost as red as her hair.

Amy pretends to have said something else, but Chloe and everybody else clearly heard what she said, so Beca tells everyone about her internship. Since, I’ve already known about it, I’m the only one besides Amy who isn’t surprised. Chloe talks about how it’s not wrong to obsess over the Bellas and Beca starts to crack.

“Because you’re too scared to leave! Sack up, dude!”

“You’ve been lying to us all year and now you’re gonna flake?” Chloe asks, taking a step forward, “What about Grace? You’ve been skimping out on your responsibilities to go to your internship.”

“Whoah, hey,” I put my hands in the air, “I thought that her internship was pretty cool.”

“You thought?” Her blue eyes burn holes in my face, “Did you know about it?”

“Well, I-,”

“It doesn’t matter! I can’t believe this!” Chloe exclaims, pulling on her hair, “You two kept this from me.”

Beca draws her attention with the idea that she’s giving up and flaking out. I can’t believe this is actually happening.

Actually, I can.

I was happy for too long a time. Something was bound to go wrong, and here it is. The two people who volunteered to be my temporary guardians, are going to stop being friends and dump my ass on my social workers front step.

Beca’s scream drowns out my thoughts, and I look up to see her trapped in a bear trap fifteen feet off the ground. 

At least there’s something to joke about.

Everyone starts to freak out and it’s kind of hilarious. Beca is basically crying about how she is going to die and starts apologizing to everyone. 

C’mon Beca, you’d only break a leg or something, you aren’t gonna die.

“And Grace, I’m sorry I haven’t spent enough time with you! Maybe we could do something when we get back like-ahh!”

She falls onto Fat Amy, who is trying to catch her, but ends up as a landing cushion. Lilly is hanging upside down with a knife in her mouth. I’m definitely locking my door when we get back, not that I’m shocked she possesses a weapon. I once saw a blowtorch when I walked by her open door.

Beca seems to have recovered, and her and Chloe both seem to have calmed down. They’re no longer glaring at each other. Actually, they’re, well Chloe, is hugging Beca tightly.

“Okay, Bellas,” Aubrey brings us back together, “Go get changed, and let’s meet at the campfire in twenty!”

She marches off in one direction and the group heads towards our tent. Emily walks beside me, to my pleasure, holding my hand.

“Well, today was fun!” She laughs like the past half an hour never occurred.

“Fun is not the word I’d use,” I place my free hand on my chin, “psychotic, nightmare, or crazy is more like it.”

“Oh, be quiet!” Emily giggles, skipping ahead of me.

“Hurry up!” I call after her, “I want to get there before Amy eats all the s’mores!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there’s chapter 10! I hope you all enjoyed it! I was wondering if instead of a sequel, which would be hard, anybody would want a series of one-shots based throughout PP2 and the summer after before they all leave. I also will take suggestions for another PP pic after I’m finished with this. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think!


	11. Chapter 11

Everyone is currently gathered around the campfire roasting marshmallows in a comfortable silence. I’m pretty sure Beca’s ‘near-death’ experience had resulted in her and Chloe to reconcile, which I’m extremely happy about.

I’m sitting smack next to Emily, clammy palms and all, and on the other side of Flo. At least, I can pretend the blush and my sweaty hands are due to the fire and not the clumsy freshman that’s hip-to-hip with me.

“Squirt,” Fat Amy speaks from across the fire pit, “pass me the goods.”

Forlornly, I toss the bag with the last three marshmallows over at the Tasmanian. There’s no doubt in my mind that I won’t be getting another s’more.

“Everything’s just changing and I’m putting so much pressure on myself, you know?” Beca’s words come straight out of left field, shocking the group.

She starts to tell us all how she’s not sure she’s good enough to make it as a producer and wishes she could write songs like Emily can and asks her to collaborate with her, to which she happily agrees to. Emily returns that she just wanted to be one of the Bellas, to which the group in question confirm that she already is one. That seems to lift the girl’s spirit higher than I thought possible. She exclaims that she feels like a winner and bounces around.

“You’re one of us two, you know, Grace,” Beca says to me, leaning forward.

“What?”

“Yeah,” Chloe grins, “you’re like, an honorary Bella,”

Tears start to form in the corners of my eyes, my throat clenching in shock, “Are you serious?”

“Yeah, kid,” Stacie shoots me her signature smirk, “who else would bring out the maternal side of our big bad DJ?”

Beca smiles with her tongue between her teeth and looks away, embarrassed.

“Why doesn’t she have to pay the registration fee?” Amy asks, “I want my fifty dollars back.”

Beca coughs, “You mean my fifty dollars,”

Fat Amy waves her off.

Anything the short captain can respond with is cut off by Chloe announcing that she’s gonna graduate, finally. 

This encourages all the Bellas to announce what they’re going to do after graduation. Cynthia Rose is getting married, Lilly is traveling through time (shocker), Flo might get deported and die, Stacie is gonna be a astro physicist, Fat Amy is claiming to become a jelly wrestler and even though they don’t get a chance to speak, I’m pretty sure Jessica and Ashley are gonna start they’re own restaurant/bakery. 

As each one of them goes, it feels like another brick is being placed on my chest. 

It’s really starting to hit me.

In the next couple of months, this ragtag group of girls is going to part ways, and that can only mean one thing.

I’ll be right back where I started before I met them. 

Stuck in some foster home where no one wants me, or in a group home with a bunch of criminals. 

There’s no way I’m going to get to stay with Beca and Chloe, because they’ll both probably be in two different places and they won’t want some kid like me to tag along. 

Chloe starts to sing, and everyone else, besides me, chimes in. It’s almost enough to distract me from my current thought direction.

Almost.

“Grace,” A nudge to the shoulder draws my attention, “you okay?”

I realize that the singing has stopped and the girls are talking amongst one another again.

Brown eyes meet hazel, and Emily gives me a small smile.

“Yeah,” I put my falsest smile on, “I’m great.”

“Awesome!” She wraps her arm around me shoulders as Amy stands up.

Whatever I missed, must have been important because she yells, “Bumper!” and runs into the woods.

Whoosh.

Scream.

…..and she’s stuck in another bear trap.

Everyone pretty much shrugs it off besides Lilly, who slips out two very sharp knives from who knows where and heads over to Fat Amy.

The smile I wear for the rest of the night, is as fake as the Dolly Parton I saw in NYC when I was six.  
_________________________________

“Alright, what the hell is wrong with you, dude?”

I look up and scoot over as Beca plops down next to me on the bus. The rest of the girls are sleeping over listening to music. I place my book down and cross my legs.

“What do you mean?” The older girl rolls her eyes.

“You’ve barely said a complete sentence since the campfire last night.” She explains as if I wasn’t there, “Even when Amy and Stacie drew on your face this morning,”

Rubbing at a spot previously covered in obscene doodles, I reply, “I’m fine. I’m just tired, it’s been a long weekend.”

“Got that right,” Beca puts her hands behind her head, leaning back and eyeing me, “but, I don’t think that’s it.”

“That’s it,” I echo, throwing her a now custom fake smile and adding a yawn, “I’m super beat.”

“Okayyy,” She narrows her eyes, letting them flicker across my face, as if looking for a sign that I’m lying, “If you say so,”

I nod, “Yep.”

Ignoring the way my stomach churns with guilt, I tilt my head back and close my eyes, planning on taking a nap, or just pretending so I don’t have to answer anymore questions.

“Sweet dreams, kid,” She pats me on the knee, and gets up, presumably to go sit back next to Chloe.

________________________________

A week or so later, the girls have just finished another grueling practice, actually looking like a team for the first time since I’ve met them. I actually have to admit that they’re pretty amazing, in that nerdy a cappella sort of way.

I’ve been really closed off, and I think some of the girls are starting to notice.

Amy even offered me the last fudge pop last night.

Fat Amy loves fudge pops.

I’m pretty sure she tried to murder Ashley one time when she’d even touched one.

It’s true, that the fact that they’re gonna leave me behind in a couple months has drastically affected my mood, but I didn’t think that I was being that obvious. I’ve been trying to participate in conversations, yet I find myself in mine and Emily’s room sulking, or sleeping most of the time.

Beca is really starting to worry, and she’s dragged Chloe into it too.

Yesterday, she even had Emily take me out for ice-cream so that they could talk about me. I heard them asking the taller brunette if she could keep me busy for a little while so her and Chloe could talk.

Emily is still oblivious, or at least I think she is. She hasn’t said anything yet.

“So, we have to order our graduation gowns.” Chloe says as the group—minus Em, who had to go straight to class— enters the house, “We got the forms in the mail today and their due on Friday.”

“Awesome,” Stacie sashays into the kitchen, “I can’t wait to rock that outfit,”

“Stace, you know you have to wear clothes underneath, right?” Jessica asks with a nervous look.

“You don’t have too,” The girl winks and CR chokes on the water she’d poured for herself.

“Whatever,” Beca pulls out a chair and sits down, “That green color we have to wear is hideous,”

“Who cares?” Chloe jumps around the room, “We’ll finally get to take the next steps in our lives. What does it matter the color we have to wear to do it?”

Crash!

The bowl for the cereal I was going to pour is now shattered on ground in a million little pieces. 

My eyes are shut, so I can’t see everyone staring at me. I clench my fists shut and hold back tears.

“Grace?” Chloe steps forward, “Are yo-,”

I breeze past her before she can finish asking if I’m ok and up into Emily’s and my room, slamming the door and locking it.

Now, I can let the tears freely flow, since there’s no longer an audience. I can’t believe I let my emotions show like that in front of all the girls. They probably think I’m crazy.

There’s a knock on the door.

“Grace? You okay?” It’s Beca.

“Go away!” My voice is muffled by the my pillow.

“Please open the door, Grace,” She knocks lightly again, a little of what I think is desperation in her voice.

Maybe if I don’t answer her, she’ll just leave me alone for a while.

“Grace?”

“Please, I just want to take a nap,” I sniffle, wiping at my eyes, “I’m tired,”

She starts to argue, but a hushed voice speaks to her for a couple moments before she sighs loudly, “Okay, but dinner is at six, so you better be in the kitchen by then,”

“Fine,”

________________________________

 

It’s dark when the sound of the door shutting wakes me up.

Blearily, I open my eyes to see Emily placing down her backpack on the bed.

“How did you open the door?”

“Lilly,” She says with a cheeky grin.

Of course Lilly could pick the lock, though I wonder why Beca didn’t think of that earlier. Or, maybe she did but she didn’t care.

My bed dips as the older brunette sits down by my legs, “Hey,” Her smile is smaller, sad, “Chloe told me what happened earlier. What happened?”

“Nothing,” I turn on my other side to face the wall, “I was just tired,”

“I don’t think that’s it,” She places her hand on my back, rubbing small circles with her thumb.

Butterflies, once again, erupt in my stomach, so I turn my head to meet her worried brown eyes, “I’m scared,” My voice cracks, tears forming.

She shifts so that she’s laying behind me, spooning me.

“Of what?” 

“Everyone leaving,” If I wasn’t so distressed, I’d probably be having a heart attack from the lack of distance between our bodies, “they’re going to graduate, and go their separate ways. Even you’ll be busy starting a whole new group of Bellas.”

“Why is that so bad?” She asks, still looking confused.

“I’m going to get dumped back into another place, Em,” I wipe my tears on my sleeve, “Beca and Chloe aren’t going to want me as baggage.”

Fingers wipe the rest of the tears on my cheeks, “Grace. Beca and Chloe aren’t going to dump you. None of us are. And even if they did, I’d apply to be your foster parent.”

I’m touched at the girl’s generosity, “Thanks Emily, but I’m not sure the government would give you custody of a flower, let alone a person. No offense, though.”

“It’s true,” She shrugs, pulling me closer, “but I love you even though you insult me!”

Not in the way I love you.

“Love you too, Em.”

“She’s right, you know,” Is followed by a knock on the open door.

Chloe and Beca are standing in the doorway, with matching smiles.

I gulp, “How much of that did you hear?”

“Nothing.”

“All of it!”

They glare at each other and Beca sighs, “Every word,”

“And we aren’t gonna dump you once we graduate,” Chloe steps closer to the bed, “We talked about and we’re gonna work something out.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, dude,” Beca grins, “why would you think we’d get rid of you?”

“I don’t know.” I look down, “I didn’t think you’d want some troublesome kid around to bother you.”

“You don’t bother us, kid. But we enjoy it when you bother Amy,” She laughs, “you’re stuck with us.”

Chloe throws her arms in the air, “Well, now that that’s settled,” She crouches down.

“Group hug!”

The breath is knocked out of me as the redhead lands on both Emily and I. She wraps her arms around both of us and repeatedly kisses me all over my face. 

“C’mon Becs!” She calls pausing from attacking my face, “Get over here!”

All the short DJ does is pat Emily awkwardly on the back, which thrills the younger girl, and give my shoulder a gentle squeeze followed by a soft smile. It’s silent for a little while before she clears her throat.

“How about that dinner?”

That’s all she needed to say.


	12. Chapter 12

After my talk with Beca, Chloe, and Emily, things had pretty much calmed down and gone back to the way they were before the end of the retreat.

Well, besides the fact that the girls have been super focused on preparing for the Worlds and beating those damn Weiner Schnitzels. They had even surprised me with a plane ticket to go with them to Copenhagen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_“Grace!” A piece of paper is shoved into my line of sight, causing me to look up at the girls surrounding me, “We’ve got something for you!”_

_“What is it?” I look up at Chloe, who had spoke._

_“It’s a surprise,” Ashley says, and Jessica adds, “open it!”_

_I take a closer look at the blank, crisp, white envelope and carefully pull open the flap, sliding out the rectangular piece of paper. Looking closer, my eyes widen._

_“A plane ticket?”_

_“Look closer,” Beca nods at the item in question._

_“To…Copenhagen?” I pause, squinting in concentration, “Hey, that’s where the Worlds are!”_

_“Yeah, you dummy,” Stacie laughs, picking up her pink nail file, “you’re coming too, obviously.”_

_“Seriously?!”_

_Chloe rolls her eyes playfully, “Totes serious, Grace! We can’t go without her good luck charm!”_

_“Oh my god! Thank you!” I launch myself at the nearest person, Beca, and since I’m only slightly smaller than her, we fall to the ground in a heap._

_“Dude, you’re welcome but,” She props herself up on her elbow and blows the hair out of her eyes, “please get off.”_

_I roll off her and onto my back, “Sorry.”_

_“Yayy!” Emily plops down next to me and wraps her arms around me, “We’re going to have so much fun!”_

_“Alright you nerds, let’s get ready for practice so we can kick some German butt next month!”_

_The group erupts into cheers as they all leave to get ready._

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Hey, kid,” Stacie’s nudge interrupts the end of the memory, “Beca and I are going on the weekly grocery run. You in?”

“Can I get those cookies I like?”

“Hmm,” She puts her hands on her hips, pretending to think, “I guess so. Go get dressed.”

She turns on her heel and walks into the kitchen, leaving me to change out of my pajamas. After I put on a pair of jeans and a hoodie, I slip on my sneakers and meet Stacie and Beca outside by the former’s silver BMW. The drive to the nearest ShopRite is filled with mindless chatter about the setlist for Worlds, and Stacie’s lasted sex conquest, to which Beca put an immediate stop too.

“Stace! We have a child in the car!”

“Beca,” I whine, “I’m sixteen years old, not a toddler.”

“With that voice,” Stacie adds, “you could be three for all I know.”

“No one asked you, Conrad.” I send her a glare, “But, maybe we can call Aubrey and ask her what she thinks.”

Stacie’s smirks drops in the rearview mirror and is replaced by a glare, rivaling mine.

“Aubrey?” Beca looks between us confused, “Why would we ask her?”

“Oh look we’re here!” Stacie exclaims pulling into a parking spot and giving me one last pointed look when we get out, “You got the list, right?”

“Yep.” The shorter brunette responds, waving the paper in the air, effetely distracted from the previous conversation.

We divide up the list into three different sections so that we can get back in time for Stacie’s physics class at two. I’m in charge of dairy and produce, so I head over to that section to get some fruit. After finally finding some really odd looking, weirdly named fruit that Lilly had written down, my final item on the list is milk.

I walk down the dairy isle and stop in front of the glass doors, I grab skim, 2%, and look around for the almond that Chloe wanted.

There it is!

But before I can reach for it, a large, dirty hand is placed on the clean, clear glass.

“Well, hello there,”

My heart stops, I freeze, and the milk I have in my hand falls to the floor, breaking and spilling white liquid all over the tiled floor.

It can’t be.

Taking a deep breath, I glance up and immediately regret it.

It is.

Brad Roberts, the foster father from my previous home is standing right in front of me with a smirk and a familiar glint in his eye. He looks exactly the same as he did a couple months ago right before I ran away.

Memories start rushing back all at once so fast that I clutch my head.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_“Get back here, you ungrateful brat!” A hand comes down across my face._

_Smack!_

_His huge fingers wrap themselves around my neck and lift me off the ground, my feet dangling inches off the floor._

_“Did I tell you that you could eat?”_

_“N-no s-s-sir,” I gasp out, clutching at his hands._

_“I didn’t think so,” He throws me to the floor and delivers two kicks to my side, most likely breaking a rib, “And I bet you didn’t clean the bathroom like I asked, did you?”_

_“I was about to, I swear,” I cough, covering my face when his breath gets even more ragged._

_He leans down and gets so close I can smell the alcohol on his breath, “You’re gonna wish you’d of done it already.” He pulls back his fist and throws it right towards my face._

_My vision goes back._

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Long time, no see.”

“L-Leave me alone,” I take a couple steps back, but his hand closes tightly around my wrist.

“Where do you think you’re going?” He pulls me forwards and grabs my shoulder with his free hand, squeezing roughly.

“Get off of me!”

He looks around to make sure no one can see before he leans in and talks directly into my ear, his breath like acid hitting my skin.

“You know, that old bitch of a social worker reported us to the police,” He seethes, grip tightening with each work, “We’re probably going to have to pay a bunch of money for a lawyer because of you.”

“It’s nothing you don’t deserve,” I find whatever courage is left in me to spit back.

“You little shit!”

Slap!

I clutch the right side of my cheek where he made contact with his hand, and yank my arm forcefully out of his grip.

Turning, I leave the man of my nightmares and try to push past two bodies to head towards the automatic sliding doors at the front of the stores.

“Grace? Where are you going?” Beca’s voice follows after me, “Grace!”  
It must have been her and Stacie I ran into.

“Hey, Grace, what’s wrong?” Stacie steps forward to put her hand on my arm but I flinch and step back shaking my head.

“I can’t” I mumble, tears starting to fall.

Stacie and Beca share confused looks before looking over my shoulder and widening there eyes. I look over my shoulder to see Brad smirking at me.

“Grace!”

My feet are already moving and a moment later I’m through the doors, barely noticing the rain that must have started after we went inside. I don’t know the area the store is located in, so I pick a random direction and keep running, hoping that I can outrun my own thoughts that are rushing into my mind.

The only sound is the slapping of my shoes hitting the pavement and the gulps of air I try to take.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_I cannot see anything in the darkness of the small space._

_“Are you stupid?” He barks, waving his hands so close to my face I know he’s going to hit me, “I can’t believe your dumb school called me in because you failed a math test! What the hell is wrong with you?”_

_“I’m sorry,” I flinch back, “I didn’t get the questions.”_

_“You don’t get anything, apparently, he hissed, “I missed the Falcons’ game because of that shit!”_

_“It won’t happen again!” I promise desperately, but he doesn’t accept that._

_“You’re right it won’t.”_

_He’s suddenly gripping me by the elbow and dragging me up the steps, towards the one place I never wanted to go. The small, almost empty linen closet door is thrown open and he tosses me inside with a grunt. Then, the door is shut directly behind me as I fall against it._

_The lock on the outside clicks._

_“Please!” I beg him,”let me out! I promise I’ll won’t do anything to embarrass you again!”_

_He kicks the door twice, “Shut the hell up!”_

_I slump to the floor as his thumping footsteps get quieter as he walks away._

_“Maybe you’ll try harder tomorrow.”_

_The dirty towel in the corner of the space is the only thing I can use to wipe the tears as I wait for tomorrow to finally come._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

My lungs are burning and as soon as I make it to a bus stop bench, I collapse on top of it, scraping my hands in the process.

I thought I would never see him again, but of course I was wrong.

He’s never going to be truly gone and just a memory.

Never.


	13. Chapter 13

As I’m coming down from my panic attack and my thoughts start to untangle themselves, I notice that I’m complete and utterly soaked. I can feel the water inside of my sneakers and my clothes cling to my body.

I’m not positive but I have to have been sitting here for a while, since the rain has stopped and the sun is peaking through the clouds. 

My adrenaline must be wearing off too, because exhaustion is starting to spread from the tips of my fingers and toes. 

Not to mention, that I have no idea where I ended up.

I decide to stay put, so that eventually Beca or Stacie will find me.

And eventually, one of them does.

A car beeps and I look up to see Beca in the drivers seat of Stacie’s BMW. The window is rolled down and she leans out the side of it.

“Not that I don’t like staring at you looking like a drowned puppy,” Her joking smile is slightly reassuring, “but I’d rather you get in the car before you get sick and Chloe kills me.”

Stacie is noticeably missing, so I open the passenger side door and sit down on the towel Beca had placed on the seat. I’m pretty sure the tall brunette would murder me multiple times over if I did anything at all to ruin her precious car.

Beca reverses and turns the car back around in the direction she came from.

“We have to go get Stacie,” She says keeping her eyes on the road, “when I left, I’m pretty sure two employees were pulling her off that man back there.”

The only thing I can respond with is a small, tired chuckle. Beca’s calmness is starting to rub off on me.

“Soo,” I see her eyebrows furrow, “what happened back there?”

Immediately, my heart skips a beat and my mouth gets dry, “W-What?”

“Who was the guy that Stacie basically mauled?”

“Brad.” It comes out a little louder than a whisper.

“Brad, who?” I think that she already knows because of the way her fingers tighten around the steering wheel.

“Roberts.”

My shoulder smacks the window when the car jerks to the right before Beca straightens out the wheel, noticeably tenser than before I spoke. I study the side of her face to find that her jaw is set and her teeth are clenched.

“As in the douche of a foster father you used to live with?” Her voice is different, more deeper, from the anger that is visible on her face.

“That would be the one.” I rest my head on the cool, smooth glass window.

“Then I hope Stacie got a couple punches in before they got her off of him.”

She’s obviously trying to lighten the mood, but the vivid memories that seeped back into my mind has really thrown me off into a whirlpool of feelings. A hand on my knee makes me open my eyes and turn my head to see that we’ve made it back to the store.

“Don’t worry,” Beca gives me her best non-smirkish smile and parks the car by the entrance, “you won’t have to see him again if the girls and I have anything to do with it.”

That, actually, is more reassuring to me for some reason. I think it’s the fact that Lilly is pretty much a ninja assassin and could potentially become my personal body guard.

“Thanks, Beca.”

One of the few touching moments the short brunette would allow is interrupted by a knock on the window. Stacie has, apparently talked her way out of trouble—or should I say made out with the whoever it took to prevent them from calling the cops,—and is patiently waiting for Beca to open the door.

“Hey, ladies,” Her cocky attitude is an obvious front for the worry I can see in her eyes, “everything alright?”

“Peachy.” Beca winces at her reply.

“Grace?” She pulls out a tube of lipstick and starts to reapply, “Is there anyone else’s ass that I have to kick before we head home?”

“No,” I fake a smile, “I think we’re all good here.”

 

“Okay, cause I’m pretty sure Amy will have a fit if the ice-cream she asked for becomes a liquid.” 

____________________________________

 

Of course the whole grocery store event would not become a secret being that the minute we got back, Emily had been there at the door to ‘hang out,' or what I would like to call, a clever distraction. Stacie must’ve texted someone to have the freshman drag me up to our room so that they could obviously talk about me behind my back.

It’s okay, though, I’d rather not be there for that anyway.

Plus, I really need to get out of these wet clothes, so I follow the tall brunette up the steps.

We’d sat in silence for a while—well as long as Emily could possibly be silent—before the girl had to break it.

“So,” She’s fiddling with her fingers nervously, “why did Stacie text the group chat a 911?”

“She did?”

“Yep,” Popping the ‘p’, she shows me the message in all caps on her iPhone.

“Oh.”

“What was it for?” Her eyes are the usual wide and sparkling that seems to ooze innocence.

It’s physically impossible for me to deny the pretty freshman anything and she’ll probably find out from one of the others so I’d rather her hear it from me.

“I might have run into Brad, my old foster parent, at Shoprite.” I avoid looking at her because of the pity I know I’ll find, “And I might have freaked out and ran off, leaving Stacie to beat the crap out of that douche-canoe.”

“Aca-seriously?” She grabs my hand and pulls me down on the bed next to her.

“Seriously.” I echo, minus the embarrassing ‘aca’ the girls seem to add to anything they want, “It was not one of my finest moments.”

Just talking about it makes me tear up a little, but I really don’t want anyone, Emily especially, to see me break down like earlier.

“Hey,” Fingers grip my chin, pulling me up to meet warm brown eyes, “If I ever see that jerk, I’ll give him a stern talking to.”

I laugh at her trying to insult anyone without actually being insulting.

“Thanks, Em,” I lay back on my pillow, knowing there’s a dopey smile across my face, “I know I can count on you to protect me.”

“Oh!” The bed shakes as she jumps up and grabs her songbook from the bedside table, “I was working on the song I auditioned for the Bellas with and I wanted to know if you want to hear it.”

Even if I didn’t want to hear it, I would’ve said yes anyway due to the idea of wiping the excited look off her face.

“Of course I do.” She leaps into the air and lands right next to me, bouncing me before she settles down smack dab on my right.

“Okay, here it goes…” She takes a deep breathe kinda like she’s about to jump into a pool before exhaling and starting her song.

Her voice is amazing.

It’s like someone took all my favorite foods and mixed them together and made them into something I’d be able to hear instead of eat. I’m also super proud of her for keeping her eyes open, because I heard she closed them for almost her whole audition, but the fact that the brown orbs are locked on mine are surprisingly unnerving.

“What did you think?” Emily bites her lip nervously.

“Em,” I watch as she gulps like I’m Simon Cowell or something, “you’re amazing, as always.”

She squeals and wraps her arms around me, “You’re so sweet!”

“I’m not sweet,” I mumble through a yawn, but she is already flipping through for another song.

“This one’s a lullaby,” She finds the page she’s looking for, “maybe it’ll help you sleep.”

“That’s nice, Em, but I’m not tired.”

She ignores me and starts to sing again, the words not really registering in my mind. Her voice is soft and slow and my eyes are fluttering shut and before I can even fight it, sleep takes me.


	14. Chapter 14

So after the grocery store incident or—as Fat Amy refers to it as—Stacie’s audition to be in the next Fight Club movie, things had started to calm down a little. Well, as little as it could for a house full of crazy people. Chloe had finally stopped checking on me every five seconds and Beca had quit glaring at anyone who came within ten feet of me when we’re walking around on campus.

Fat Amy had been put in charge of me while the rest of the girls went over to the Treble’s for a send off party for the World’s. We leave in three days and no one has packed a single thing yet, me included. Cynthia Rose and I have a running bet that if Beca packs an hour before she gets fifteen bucks, but I win if she panics and starts shoving crap in her suitcase fifteen minutes before we leave for the airport.

“Squirt,” Amy’s fingers snap in front of my face, and I glance away from the TV to see that she’s changed out of her lounge clothes and into something a lot nicer. “Get up, we have a party to get to.”

That would be the first mistake the Bellas made leaving me with Amy.

The second being that Chloe had made some kind of weird fish thing for dinner which I pretended to eat and am currently starving.

“Can’t you wait like a couple minutes,” I as least have to try to be responsible, “Jessica and Ashley will be back soon to switch with you!”

“Nope,” Her hand closes around my wrist and she yanks me up and towards the kitchen so we can cut through the backyard.

The minute we step outside, the loud music and strobe lights greet me. I have to basically jog to keep up with the blonde in front of me and she doesn’t seem to care that the bushes are smacking me in the face repeatedly.

“Now go off and have fun,” Amy pushes me in the direction of a mob of people dancing, “but don’t let Mother and Father see you. I’m gonna get a drink and find my hunk of man meat.”

With that, she waddles off to the bar, while I’m left to roll my eyes at her nicknames for Chloe and Beca.

The table with food on it calls to me, so I confidently stride over to it like I’m supposed to be here. Hand reaching out, not two steps away from the delicious snacks, something pulls me back by the collar of my shirt.

“And what do you think you’re doing here?” Stacie spins me around and my shoulders slump.

“Eating dinner?” 

Her hand immediately finds its place on her hip as she stares me down, “Didn’t you already eat?”

“Holy shit!” Throwing my arm up and pointing over her shoulder, “Is that Aubrey?”

Stacie spins around so fast I feel dizzy for her. Obviously, the former blonde dictator of the Bellas isn’t actually here, but it’s the only thing I could think of to draw the girl’s attention away from me. While she’s scanning the area I gestured to like a hawk, I back away into the sea of people dancing.

I’m going to get shit for that later.

The next person I come across is Lilly, who is sorting through the knives in the kitchen. We make awkward eye-contact for at least three minutes before she whispers something about a black-market kidney. That’s my cue to flee incase she’s intending on taking mine.

For the next half an hour, I manage to avoid just about anyone who would yell at me for being here.

But someone does manage to find me.

A drunk off her ass Emily.

“Grace!” She lifts me off the ground and swings me around like a rag doll, “I’ve been looking for you everywhere!”

“That’s sweet and all, Em,” I’m able to extract myself from her vice-like grip, “but I wasn’t supposed to be at this party, remember?”

She lets out a loud laugh and throws her arm over my shoulder, “Oh, right.” Then, she’s pulling me towards the group of people dancing drunkly by the pool.

I’m not the greatest dancer, but Emily’s too wasted to notice, and she pretty much looks like an idiot herself.

Not that I’d ever tell her that, of course.

A flash of red through the crowd catches my attention, and I see the brunette trailing unhappily behind it. Oh no, the only people who can actually punish me for being here. Think fast, Grace.

Quickly, I push Emily in front of me and grip the back of her shirt.

“Em, it’s Beca and Chloe! Don’t let them see me!”

I spoke to soon because even in her drunk stupor, the tall freshman freezes and takes a step back. Peaking around her, I see the two co-captains heading this way.

“Do something!” I whisper loudly enough for her to hear me over the loud music.

“Okay.” She bumps her butt back into my front and sends me flailing backwards. Expecting to hit the pavement, I put my hands out behind me, only to be submerged into freezing water. I swim up to the surface and spit out some pool water.

Emily had pushed me into the pool.

I mean, I know she’s drunk, but come on.

“Heh-hem.”

Looking up, I think maybe I should have just drowned. Beca and Chloe are standing at the edge of the pool, a guilty Emily standing directly behind them.

“Heyyy,” I drawl, “Fancy seeing you here?”

“Yeah,” Beca says, glaring down at me, “What are you doing here, Grace?”

“Um, swimming?” I splash around a little to emphasize.

“Do I look like I was born yesterday?” I open my mouth, “Don’t answer that!”

She exchanges a glance with Chloe, who gives her a smile and steps forwards a bit, “Grace, please take Emily home and we’ll talk about this later.”

I nod quickly, exiting the pool and gripping the drunk girl by the elbow, leading her the way back to the house. I never thought I’d see the day where Chloe was the one to under react and be level-headed.

Hopefully they’ll drink so much they’ll forget about it.

Emily can just barely walk, so I walk up the stairs behind her just in case. I get out of my wet clothes and into my pajamas before helping the older girl change out of her party dress. I advert my eyes the whole time, only looking when I’m positive that she’s fully dressed.

“Stay.” She holds onto my hand when I pull the blanket over her waist.

“Okay.” 

She pulls me down next to her, my face inches from hers, “Why are you always so nice to me? The other girls sometimes aren’t.”

My heart clenches, knowing that the other girl is sometimes mistreated by Fat Amy and unnoticed by Beca. I’ve stood up for her on numerous occasions, but I know that no one can change Amy and that Beca is working on giving the girl more attention. They’re supposed to go to the studio tomorrow to work on a track.

“Everyone loves you, Emily,” She smiles softly, “You’re beautiful and awesome.”

“You think so?” She yawns, rubbing at her eyes.

“I do.”

Her next action takes me by surprise. She leans forward and presses her lips to mine in a quick, chaste kiss and falls back onto her pillow. 

Shocked, I press my fingers to my lips. My cheeks are burning and I’m not even sure I’m even awake. Did that just happen. I open my mouth to say something, but Emily’s soft snores stop me. The freshman has fallen asleep, her hair covering half of her face.

I smile softly and lean back on my pillow, watching her before falling asleep myself.


	15. Chapter 15

The next morning Beca is supposed to take Emily to the studio to work on one of her songs and I’ve managed to persuade her to let me tag along, too. Unfortunately, the tall freshman seems to have no recollection of the brief kissed we shared last night which does make me a little sad, but the fact that she asked me to come proves that she isn’t just pretending she forgot.

“Lets go, lets go, lets go!” My blanket is yanked out from under me, sending me tumbling to the carpet.

“I was getting up, Em,” I whine and push myself up on my elbows, “I swear.”

“Yeah right,” Beca’s voice sounds from the door, “looks like you’re gonna have to wear that to the studio if we want to get there early enough.”

I notice that her smirk isn’t as snarky this morning which makes me think something might have gone down at the party last night.

Since most of my stuff is packed into my suitcase, I was probably going to wear this anyway. Copenhagen is only a day and a half away, you know.

By the time I get downstairs, the rest of the girls are up and moving, doing last minute stuff for their classes and such. It’s really starting to hit me that this group of girls I’ve come to love are going to be splitting up soon. We haven’t really even talked about what’s going to happen to me once they graduate. 

Maybe they’re sending me away.

“Squirt!” Amy’s accent shakes me out of my thoughts, “There’s an emergency Bechloe meeting before you leave!”

“What are you talking about Amy?” I yawn, leaning against the back of Jessica’s chair.

“Beca broke up with that babyfaced Troublemaker last night.” She continues, while the others nod to confirm her story, “Her and Chloe were in our room all night and I slept on the sofa just incase they were getting busy!”

“What? You’re serious?”

“Yeah, so you’re mission in Copenhagen is to get those two together. We’ll discuss the rest of the detail at a further time, when we can’t be overheard.” Fat Amy rambles on. 

“Hands in,” Cynthia Rose chirps and we all follow suit.

“Go team!” We cheer, raising our hands.

“Grace!” Beca calls from the living room, “Lets go!”

“Coming!”

Chloe hugs all three of us and gives me a kiss on the cheek, which embarrasses me so I wipe at it while I walk next to Emily to the car, getting into the back. 

The car ride is filled with Emily blasting Beca’s mixes, and completely jamming out like the fangirl that she is. Beca tries not to smile, but I can tell that she is endeared that the younger Bella is so excited about what she does. 

No one else is in the parking lot when we pull in, which is good because I’m sure that we aren’t supposed to be here. I’ve heard Beca’s boss is pretty insane and I don’t think I want to come across him.

Residual Heat is awesome on the inside.

I’ve never been in a real music studio before, and it’s like walking into a candy shop. Everything is shiny and expensive looking, so Emily probably shouldn't touch anything. While the two Bella’s sit down in one of the booths, the swivel chair in the corner draws my attention.

The technical talk of music doesn’t interest me, so I spin around while they talk. I really only came to see Emily sing and finally get to collaborate with her idol.

Sure enough, when Emily finally gets behind the clear glass, Beca tells her not to touch anything, because even though she’s pretty, she looks clumsy, which is spot on.

Her voice is amazing and it really looks like she’s having the time of her life. Every once in a while Beca stops her so she can add her own input and then she continues. This goes on for at least an hour and a half before they finish and I’m almost asleep. I don’t feel guilty though, because when you have to hear the same lines over and over again the novelty quickly wears off. 

“Okay, that’s it.” Beca pushes the headphones to her neck, “Grace? You wanna listen before we go?”

“You know it!” I use my legs to propel my chair across the room, earning a glare from the older girl. 

“Do I have to threaten to break you if you break anything?”

“Nope!” I grab the headphones from her extended hand and slip them on over my ears. Beca presses one of the many buttons on the board in front of us and the opening beats to the song begin to play. Emily’s voice filters in and I’m immediately in love with this song. I basically love anything Emily does.

The song ends and I turn to my left to compliment both girls, when I notice both spots beside me are empty. Turning around, I see Beca, Emily and a man I’ve never been before are talking about the song. 

“And who’s that one?” The man, Beca’s weird boss, I guess, asks.

“Oh that’s Grace,” I wave, “She’s, well she’s-,”

“She’s her kid!” Emily cuts in nervously, causing all eyes to turn to her.

Beca looks really taken back by Emily’s choice of words and my heart beat quickens as we wait for her to speak.

“Yeah,” She breathes, then smiles, “She’s my kid.”

My whole body fills with warmth at her answer and she sends me a quick smile before her boss starts talking again.

“Okay, whatever, nice to meet you Gabriella,” He waves dismissively and turns back to the other two to continue the previous conversation. 

He ends up loving the song and giving Beca a compliment while trying to be angry that she can do something as well as he can.

We only stay a little while longer so that they can finalize some things and he even offers Beca a permanent position at the studio with an opportunity to get a position at the Los Angelos location. Emily and I could barely hold back out excitement, so once we got back to the car, we both engulfed her in a tight hug.

————————————————————-  
Later that night, I’m in my room finishing up my packing when a piece of black fabric is thrown over my head and I’m dragged across the carpet. A hand over my mouth muffles my screams and once the person stops pulling me, a door is shut and the hood is yanked off my head. My eyes take a minute to adjust to the brightness before I can see all the girls, besides Chloe and Beca, sitting on the beds and desk chairs in Jessica and Ashley’s room.

“What the hell guys?”

“We’re having an emergency Bechloe meeting,” Flo says glancing at all the others, “We have to talk about how we’re going to get them together in Copenhagen.”

“And you couldn’t have just sent me a text?” I lean back against the wall, “Or you know, just told me before you sent Lilly to kidnap me?”

Lilly mumbles something about keeping her skills up to par and I shift away from her a little. 

“Sorry girl,” CR shrugs apologetically before she continue’s, “but we didn’t have time for all the chit chat. We sent Chloe up to help Beca pack and that will only give us so much time.”

“Soooo,” I drawl, “What’s the plan?”

“Well, first we need to get them together at every possible moment,” Stacie tells me, leaning forwards, “That means plane seats, sharing rooms, and any other scenario that comes up. Chloe hasn’t had sex in months and Beca didn’t just break up with Jesse for kicks, so all we have to do it make sure we don’t come home until mom and dad are finally together.”

“Each of you will be assigned different positions for the mission.” Fat Amy cuts in, “I will obviously be the leader and you will refer to me as the ‘Blonde Bombshell’. Stacie will be known as ‘the hunter’. Jessica and Ashley shall be the ‘wonder twins’, while Flo is the ‘mexican jumping bean’, and Lilly is ‘Asian Jesus’. CR can be referred to as ‘dark chocolate’ and Legacy and Grace will be ‘Aca-love child number one’ and ‘two’ respectively. Any questions?”

Flo raises her hand, “Um, I’m Guatemalan.”

“Can mine be less racist?” CR asks, frowning.

“Why do I have to be number two?”

“Then, if there’s no objections,” Amy gets to her feet, “let us retire for the night so we can all be well rested enough to kick ass at Worlds and get our ship sailing!”

Everyone who isn’t offended by Fat Amy’s nicknames cheer, while the rest of us are still a little confused.

I guess we’ll see what happens.


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Operation Bechloe is put into motion, while Emily asks Grace a question that sends her running to two of the Bellas for help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for the long wait, I've been writing essay after essay for the summer comp class and I've been tired of writing so It's taken awhile to muster up the motivation! Hope you enjoy!

The flight to Copenhagen was the first step in the plan. I was supposed to claim that CR was gonna tell some super huge story about her ex girlfriend and her gambling problem so that I could switch seats with Chloe and she would have to sit next to Beca.

We still aren’t sure why ‘Jeca’ as Fat Amy had dubbed them, had broken up, but it’s probably the fact that Beca is obliviously in love with her ginger co-captain and vice versa.

Everyone else had been strategically placed around them to ensure the first step went smoothly. It was a long flight, so a lot could happen.

It didn’t

The only thing remotely interesting was when Chloe fell asleep on Beca’s shoulder. I don’t see the big deal, but the others seemed to be freaking out about it in the group chat.

_Blonde Bombshell: Step 1 has been a success, the Ginger and the Big BM are sleeping together._

_The Hunter: Jesus Amy, you make it sound like they’re joining the mile high club._

_Blonde Bombshell: I will only answer to Blonde Bombshell or BB for short._

_Hunter: Fine. Blonde Bombshell what is the second part of the plan?_

_BB: Them rooming together_

_Aca-Child 2: But I was supposed to room with Beca!_

_Dark Chocolate: Suck it up, kid_.

_Hunter: That leaves me and BB, Jessica and Ashley, Flo, CR, and Lilly, and Legacy and Grace._

I gulp, looking across the isle to see the leggy freshman throwing me a thumbs up. She still hasn’t said anything about the kiss, and neither have I, because I’m scared she remembers and doesn’t like me that way.

_Asian Jesus: i can fit three dead bodies in my suitcase_

Oh god, here we go.

Look out Copenhagen, the Bellas are coming and you’ll never be the same.

____________________________

After the plane landed and we all got our luggage, the group of us got settled in at the hotel and got the go ahead from the captains, we each split up to explore. Beca and Chloe had decided to go to the local museum, so Emily and I volunteered to take the first ‘Bloe’ shift, as Amy had gracefully dubbed it.

“I can’t believe I’m actually at the Worlds right now!” Emily bounces next to me as we casually trail the two girls.

“I can,” I walk faster to keep up with her, “you guys have been practicing your asses off. If you don’t beat those Germaturds, I’ll demand a recount!”

The tall soon-to-be sophomore laughs and all of a sudden, her arm juts out in front of me, stopping me in my tracks. Her eyes are wide as she watches something ahead of us.

“OH EM ACA-GEE!!!” She squeals, jumping up and down, almost dislocating my shoulder with the force.

“What?” I look around quickly, “Is the Pope here?”

Holy shit, I’ll get to meet the Pope!

“No!” She physically turns my head a little to the left, “Look!”

Slightly disappointed, my eyes fall on a familiar brunette and an equally familiar redhead.

“Are they?”

“THEY”RE HOLDING HANDS!” I’m pretty sure my eardrums are busted. “Oh god, oh god,” She continues to talk, about to start hyperventilating, “what do we do?”

“First of all, take a breath,” I nudge her with my shoulder and pull out my phone, taking a quick picture to share wit the group.

_Ace-Child 2: Not only are they holding hands, it’s not the Ginger dragging around DJ B, it’s DJ B dragging around the Ginger!_  
_-photo_

_Wonder Twins 1+2: Ahhhhhhh!!! We’ll be there in fifteen to switch with you guys!_

_Blonde Bombshell: All in a days work thanks to the Blonde Bombshell._

_The Hunter: Amy you’re seriously sitting next to me doing absolutely nothing._

_BB: I don’t know who this Amy is, but she sounds drop dead gorgeous._

_Hunter: Ugh_

“So,” I look up from my phone to give Em my full attention, “what do you want to do now that we’re off-duty?”

“Not sure,” Shrugging, I hold the door open for her as we make our getaway, “I thought we were gonna be here all day so I didn’t plan anything.”

“Well,” She looks a little nervous, “I found this place that doesn’t serve only fish after about three hours of searching online. I was thinking that we could go there for dinner, just you and me.”

What?

All of the sudden, my mouth feels as dry as the Sahara Desert dipped in the fiery pits of hell.

It takes what seems like forever for my lips to form a proper reply.

“O-Ok.”

“Awesome! It’s a date!” Clapping her hands together, she takes off in front of me into a skip.

A date.

I have to be dreaming. Or, maybe I heard her wrong.

Nope, I definitely felt that. By now, the older girl is almost a block ahead of me, so I break into a sprint to catch up with her.

__________________________________________

“Stacie! Amy! I need your help!”

The sounds of my rapid knocks echo around the empty hotel hallway while I stand impatiently outside of the two girls’ room.

Shifting quickly, I knock the louder and more erratically, my nerves increasing with every second.

“Seriously, guys! This is a 9-1-1 situation!” I lean forward. and instead of resting my forehead against the grey door, I faceplant on the carpet just inside the room.  
Looking up, I’m met with the devilish smirk of Stacie, and Fat Amy, who is doubled over clutching her stomach in hysterics. I groan and turn so that I’m resting in a more comfortable position on my back.

“What’s the emergency, kid?” Stacie shuts the door and crosses her arms, “Did someone get hit by a car or something?”

“Worse,” I sigh, “Emily asked me out to dinner tonight and I’m freaking out!”

“Okay,” She drawls. looking confused, “so what’s the issue? It’s just dinner.”

“She said, and I quote ‘it’s a date’! As in, two people who like each other going out on a romantic excursion!” I wave my hands in the air spastically.

“Whoah, whoah, whoah,” Amy raises her hands in a ‘hold on’ gesture, “you have a thing for the Legacy?”

“Amy,” Stacie shoots the blonde an incredulous look, “Cynthia Rose has a running bet on when and who would ask the other out! You have fifty dollars on Grace.”

“So you’re saying that I’m out fifty bucks?”

“Oh my god!” I drag my hands down my face with a groan.

“All bets aside,” Stacie interrupts, sitting down on the edge of the bed, “what’s the big deal? Obviously she likes you if she asked you out.”

“What if she didn’t mean a date, date, but she just meant hanging out? Like two friends would do?” I roll over onto my knees to look at the brunette.

“Squirt, calm down. Legacy almost has a larger toner for you, than Beca has for Chloe. It’s so cute I could throw up.” The blonde Australian sticks her finger in her mouth and mimes gagging.

“Not that this isn’t a thrilling conversation, but I came here for your help, not a running dialogue on toners.”

That seemed to peak Stacie’s interest, “You want us to get you ready?”

“Well, I was gonna ask Beca,” I admit, and Amy chokes back laughter, “but, besides the fact that I didn’t want to interrupt her and Chloe, she would’ve probably would’ve tried to third-wheel like the overprotective dad she is, not to mention she would most likely dress me in all black and chalk on the eyeliner.”

“Wow,” Amy sighs, “if I wasn’t so impressed with your spot on impression of Beca, I would be teasing you for your use of the word dad.”

“Anyway, let’s hurry up and get you all hot for the Legacy.” Stacie grins, shooting me a wink, “I’m thinking something that can easily be ripped off.”

“Stacie!”


	17. Chapter 17

Thank the lord for Chloe’s insistence that I pack a bunch of pretty dresses so that I could look cute the entire trip. At the time, I wasn’t really that thrilled with trying on an entire store rack of outfits, but now I seriously owe her one.

“And, there!” Stacie pulls back her hand, which is holding one of her many makeup brushes.

It’s been more than two hours since I came knocking desperately on their door, and as soon as they stopped teasing me, Amy had run to my room to get my suitcase and dumped its entire contents onto the floor.

I was shoved into a pretty blue and gold summer dress, with the leather jacket Beca had insisted they buy wrapped securely around my shoulders. My hair fell in soft, loose curls, and sprayed with at least an entire bottle of hairspray.

“…”

Now that I can get a full look at the whole ensemble, my mouth is opening and closing like a fish. True to her word, Stacie had kept the makeup to a minimum and it had a very natural look to it. All of the freckles on my nose are covered in a thin coat of foundation, no blush needed because I’m already red in the face with nerves. She’d used a couple coats of dark brown mascara to really make my eyes pop, with the smallest amount of eyeliner to bring it all together.

“No need to thank me,” The brunette wipes imaginary dirt off her shoulders, “I’m amazing, I know.”

“Alright, alright,” Fat Amy pushes open the door, “we can hear about how great you are when I’m not the sexiest Tasmanian in the Bellas.”

“You’re the only Tasmanian in the Bellas.” Stacie narrows her eyes.

“Oh, well, I guess that answers that!”

“Hey!”

A knock on the door saves me from the pointless fight about to break out.

“I’ll get it,” Amy exits the bathroom to answer it.

It has to be Emily, because she sent me a text a half an hour ago saying that she’d come get me at 7. My palms are already starting to sweat and my right leg is shaking so bad it could be having its own seizure. _What if she thinks I look terrible? Or maybe she really doesn’t like me and this is all some kind of joke set up by Fat Amy._

The clearing of someone’s throat stops my panicked thoughts and draws my attention to the newcomer in the room.

_Wow._

“H-hey Grace,” Emily tucks a piece of hair behind her ear, ducking her head down, “you look amazing.”

“You’re amazing.” I blurt out, “I mean, you look great, too.”

A light blush covers her cheeks as she smile widely, “Thanks.”

Now that there’s a moment of silence between us, I take it to study the tall girl in front of me. She’s wearing a lavender colored strapless dress, paired with a white cardigan and sandals. Her hair is pretty natural, straight with a slight curl at the bottom. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone more perfect than her.

“I don’t mean to interrupt whatever weird thing is going on here, but Aubrey is coming over and I’d rather her not think our Legacy is malfunctioning and Bechloe’s lovechild is broken.” Stacie speaks up, waving her hand around as she does.

“Ooooohhh,” This new information distracts me, “Aubrey’s coming here?”

“Yes,” She turns me around and pushes me towards Emily and out the door, “so go out, enjoy yourselves and don’t come back here tonight!”

The door slams behind us, effectively bringing us back to the awkward silence of a couple moments ago.

“Um, what do you think Stacie plans to do with Aubrey while Amy is in there?” My comment is successful in breaking the ice.

Emily throws her head back in laughter, easing my nerves, “I have no idea but I’d rather not be here to find out. Let’s go!” She grabs my hand and starts pulling me in the direction of the hotel lobby.

I try to ignore the urge to jump for joy, “You never told me where exactly we were going.”

“Oh, well it’s the only place I could find that didn’t only serve fish!” Emily shares excitedly, “It’s right down the street from here.”

“Awesome, but you know, anywhere would’ve been fine with me.”

“Yeah,” She shrugs, “but I wanted it to be special.”

“You did?” My throat closes up with emotion.

“Of course,” Emily beams, squeezing my hand gently, “aren’t first dates supposed to be special?”

“Y-yeah,” I stutter like an idiot, “first dates are special.”

We engage in small talk the rest of the way to our destination and my nerves decrease with each step we take. The place she picked, Tom’s Bistro, is small but very nice. I hold the door open for her, and push her chair in, like I’ve seen in any romantic movie ever. It’s not too crowded, so we’re able to order fairly quickly.

“I’m really glad you said yes,” The legacy is first to break the silence, “I didn’t know if you would because you never said anything after we kissed that one night, so I wasn’t sure.”

I choke on the water I was sipping on, nearly performing a spit take, “You remember that?!”

Emily tilts her head to the side with a small smile, “Of course, why wouldn’t I?”

“Well, you never said anything about it after,” Biting my lip nervously, I look up to meet her wide brown eyes.

“You didn’t either,” She breathes, leaning forward, “I just thought maybe you weren’t ready or something.”

Finally relaxed, I let out a relieved laugh, “I thought you weren’t ready or something! Or, that you didn’t feel the same way.”

She giggles, smiling widely, “You’re amazing! Why wouldn’t I feel the same way?”

A blush creeps up the back of my neck and over my cheeks, her flattering words warming my insides as well as my skin. “I don’t know,” I look over through the window to avoid her inquiring eyes, “I just didn’t think you would.”

“I definitely do, Grace.” Emily reaches across the table and grips my hand in both of hers, “I think you’re the greatest person ever. For one, you’re the only one at home who calls me by my actually name instead of Legacy. I mean, don’t get me wrong I love it, it’s just nice to hear my actual name once in a while. Plus, you’re always super supportive of everything I do, which makes my heart race to be honest. So, to answer my own question, that’s why I feel the same way.”

“Wow, Em.” She squeezes my hand gently, “I guess I just didn’t think that you thought that highly of me.”

Emily leans back with a wide smile, “Well, you do now,”

We both grin at each other like a bunch of idiots, our conversation turning towards the World’s competition and other related topics. Our food is brought out a little while later and I can honestly say it’s one of the best things I’ve ever tasted. Thank god the tall soon-to-be sophomore had picked a place that didn’t exclusively serve fish. Everything went pretty well after that. More small talk was exchanged and we both argued on paying the bill, until I pulled out Fat Amy’s brand new credit card and we both agreed that she owed us one.

The walk back to the hotel was obviously more relaxed than the walk from, and it was slightly due to the fact that Emily’s hand was tethering me to the present and not my own mind.

“So, normally, in the movies we kiss at the door and one of us leaves,” I scratch the back of my neck while we stand awkwardly at the entrance to our room, “but, since we’re rooming together that kind of hinders my awkward get away.”

Emily grins at me while I turn to awkwardly fumble with the door. Once I finally get it open, I take a step into the room, only to be quickly spun around and pulled forward.

Holy shit.

_She’s kissing me._

I never understood why people compared a kiss to fireworks, but it feels like a firecracker just went off throughout my entire body. What feels like forever, must only be a couple of seconds because we both pull back to breathe.

Opening my mouth to say something, I’m interrupted by a light flicking on in the corner of the room.

_Holy shit._

Sitting in the corner of the room, with a look between anger and amusement, is none other than _Beca Effin Mitchell._

“Emily,” She says casually crossing her legs and eyeing us, “Grace, where have the two of you been?”

Still frustrated because of our kiss being cut in on, I shoot the short woman a glare, “We were at dinner.”

Beca raises her hands in front of her, “Hey, I was just asking a question. You never told me you were going out. I heard it from Amy when she tried to ‘borrow’ more money from me.”

It’s quiet for a moment while Emily and I exchange looks, communicating silently with our eyes.

“So, Legacy,” Beca turns her attention towards the taller girl, “what’s the 4-1-1?”

I really have to hand it to her. Emily holds her look for as long as she possibly can, longer than I gave her credit for, until she crumbles like a freshly baked cookie, “We were on a date!” She covers her mouth, then continues, “We went to a restaurant and talked about our feeling and then we came back and kissed.”

Beca laughs, “I saw that last part, but thanks for the full story, Em. Now, what are your intentions with Grace? You do know she’s sixteen, right?”

Emily suddenly sports a deer in the headlights kinda look and I’m instantly filled with the urge to protect her from this uncomfortable topic.

“Stacie is in her room with Aubrey!” I shout, drawing both pairs of eyes to me, “Em and I saw them making out back at the retreat! I’m pretty sure they’re probably doing it right now in her hotel room!”

My input is effective in distracting the co-captain. Her eyebrows raise so high they might fall off her forehead.

“What?”

Her eyes search my face for honesty, before turning to Emily, who nod her head quickly with wide eyes.

Beca shoots out of her seat and bolts to the door, closing it behind her and leaving us with some parting words, “This isn’t over!”

Both of us look at each other before bursting out into laughter.

I fall back on the bed behind me and look up at the girl who has captured my heart, “We’re so screwed.”

“Oh yeah,” She grins, “so screwed.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone catch that Parks and Rec reference? Let me know if you did!


	18. Chapter 18

The next days consisted of rehearsal for the looming World’s competition, everyone becoming more stressed out the closer it got. To be honest, I think the girls have never looked better, but Chloe is still going slightly insane with the pressure.

_All the former Bellas were here, including Emily’s mother, who after an awkward encounter, had warmed up to me._

_“I can’t believe you guys are finally together,” CR stated from across the table at breakfast, “we’ve been waiting for what feels like forever.”_

_“I barely believe it either,” Emily wrapped her arms around my waist from where she sat behind me._

_“Yeah,” My face flushed as the rest of the girls laugh at us._

_“Plus now we can do this!” I’m turned around and she captures my lips in a chaste kiss._

_“Hmm,” A throat is cleared from behind us, “now, I can see what my daughter’s been doing, or more importantly, who she’s been doing.”_

_I can feel Emily freeze underneath me, her arms gripping my sides nervously. I knew she was going to be here, I just didn’t think our first meeting in person would be like this, with her daughter’s lips latched onto mine._

_Kathrine Junk in all her glory._

_“Mrs. Junk! Hi!” I jumped off her daughters lap and stumbled, before turning to face her. I could hear Fat Amy’s snickers behind me._

_“Hello, Grace,” The mother of my girlfriend—I can’t believe I can say that—greeted me,“it’s nice to finally meet you in person. I can see you and my daughter get along very well.”_

_The younger Junk jumped up from her seat like she just got shocked and rushed up to save me from my awkwardness with her own equal amount of awkward, “Hey Mom! How’s it going! I’m so glad you’re here!” She threw her arms around her in a tight hug._

_“Oh, Emily,” Mrs. Junk laughed, embracing her daughter, “don’t think we aren’t going to talk about what I just saw.” She shot me a look over Emily’s shoulder full of mirth. “How come you didn’t tell me about this, Beca?”_

_The short brunette crossed her arms, childishly, “I didn’t even know until two days ago. Apparently everyone had a running bet and forgot to include me in it!”_

_“Aw, Becs, we knew you would overreact,” Chloe threw her arm around the other girl, “so we just kind of never mentioned it.”_

_Beca had harrumphed, while the rest of us laughed, some of the tension easing up._

After that incredibly embarrassing encounter, Emily’s mother had taken me into a room and threatened me with unmentionable harm if I ever so much as harmed a hair on her daughter’s head.

Let’s just say, I’m going to be hiding from the woman for a while.

* * *

 

“Grace! Let’s go, its time to leave!” Emily calls from outside the bathroom, her voice shaking with nerves.

Opening the door, I’m met with her equally nervous face, “Em, it’s gonna be fine. You guys are going to kick ass, and I’m going to watch some Weiner Schnitzels cry.” My joke causes her to crack a smile, my hand reaching forward to squeeze hers reassuringly, “Now, let’s hurry before Chloe bites our heads off!”

The World’s arena is buzzing with activity when we arrive, people from all nationalities gathering in one place to compete. We sign ourselves in and enter the grassy area, where Flo decides to show us all how she could’ve been an Olympic gymnast.

“Be careful, Flo!” Chloe calls after the Guatemalan girl, who continues to flip her way towards the stage.

Emily grabs my hand nervously and I shoot her a smile to try and ease her nerves. Beca comes up on my left and puts her hand on my shoulder, squeezing gently.

“Ready to watch the girls kick some ass?”

“Yes,” My lips curl up into a smirk, one very similar to the one the brunette co-captain is currently wearing. “And if that ass happens to be german, then I’ll take it as an added bonus.”

“Language!” Chloe scolds, slapping Beca’s—who’s still laughing—shoulder and skipping forward after the rest of the girls. “Let’s go! We have to get ready for war!”

The three of us left behind share exasperated looks before marching behind the eccentric redhead towards the backstage area. The girls go through some last minute prepping while I’m charged with making sure all the former Bellas are here.

Let me tell you, there are a lot of Bella Alumni.

After I confirm that everyone is here, some of the groups have already gone on and the girls’ slot was getting very close. Speaking of, I can hear the announcers talking about DSM from here. Looks like the bane of my existence is waiting in the wings chanting their stupid name.

“Up next, Das Sound Machine!”

Like always, the group of extremely tall people come marching out onto the stage in soldier-like formation. Kommisar and Peter are at the head of the group dressed in these ridiculous black fishnet outfits.

Gross.

Not going to lie, the performance is pretty good, but I have to get backstage, so I have no claims leaving the audience. The only one I find when I get back there, is my girlfriend looking around frantically for something.

“What’s wrong?” I wrap my arms around her waist as she continues to shuffle through some clothes.

“I can’t find my bandana!” She doesn’t even look back at me she’s so frantic about a small piece of her costume.

“Um, Em,”

“Chloe’s going to kill me!”

“Em!”

“What?”

“Are we talking about the bandana that’s sticking out of your back pocket?” Pointing at said bandana, I laugh when she grabs it out of her pocket and her eyes nearly pop out of her head.

She leans forward and catches my lips in a passionate but short kiss, thanking me.

“Grace,” A voice calls from behind us, causing me to freeze, “Em.”

Beca is standing at the steps to the stage with her hands on her hips, “We got to go Emily, we’re about to go on.” She turns to me and gives me a mischievous smile, “You can finish whatever that was later. You have to go get those out to the audience, Grace” She nods her head towards a large cardboard box.

“You got it, dude!” I throw her a thumbs up, picking up the heavy box, “Now, go out and crush it!”

“We should not let her hang out with Amy anymore,” Beca says to Emily as I walk by them towards the front of the stage area.

Once I get out to the large audience, I start giving out the small handheld flashlights for the girls’ performance. Some people give me weird looks but when I explain it to them they nod excitedly at being included in the action. I’m just about finished when they announce the girls.

“From the United States, please welcome the Barden Bellas!”

The stage is pitch black as the girls enter single file, stopping to stand in a horizontal line facing the crowd, who’s deathly silent. Lights start flashing and the group begins the complicated clapping and snapping routine they’ve been rehearsing for months. Then, the beat drops and the girls start to dance and sing, owning the stage if I do say so myself.

Finally, the tempo slows down to the beginning of Emily’s song _Flashlight_ , which the girl literally flipped out when Beca asked if she could add it to the performance setlist. Gripping the flashlight in my hands tightly, I watch as Beca and Chloe literally and figuratively hand over the song and group to Emily who really shines. The lights turn on, revealing the generations of Bella Alumni behind them. I lift my hand in the air, waving the light back a forth, the crowd following my lead, when her brown eyes meet mine.

If possible her smile gets even wider and she nods in my direction. Her and Beca get to share a moment while singing the last verse of the song and as Emily sings out the last words, my eyes start to tear up with pride.

The song ends and the girls throw themselves at each other, some crying and others laughing, the crowd erupting into crazy loud cheers as I push through it to get backstage once again.

Emily is walking down the steps just as I make it past the gate and we lock eyes before I run and jump into her open arms latching onto her lips in an enthusiastic kiss.

“That was amazing, Em!” I pull back to grin at her, which she returns.

“Uhhh,” Amy appears behind Emily, “if I remember correctly, the Legacy wasn’t the only one on that stage just now.”

I stick my tongue out at the blonde girl, but unwrap my legs from around my girlfriends waist and throw my arms around Fat Amy, “You were all great!”

Someone latches onto me from behind as all the girls throw themselves into the group hug. The only one not participating is Beca, who isn’t a fan of affection, standing off to the side with a smile on her face.

“C’mon cap!” Stacie reaches out and drags the shorter girl into the middle of the hug, Beca resisting half heartedly the entire way.

Our embrace is broken up when the judges call everyone’s attention to the stage, the last act having finished up moments ago, ready to announce the winner.

The moment of truth.

“…and the winners are…THE BARDEN BELLAS!”

Time just about stops as the group hug is initiated all over again before they start making their way to the stage, Emily tugging me along behind her. There’s not a single Bella who isn’t crying with joy.

They did it! They actually won the Worlds.

We pass DSM on the way to the stage and I have just enough time to yell out, “Suck it, you sauerkrauts!”

Bella and Chloe are handed a ginormous trophy that has to be as tall as me. I snap a picture of the girls surrounding it with my phone and then they pull me into the shot that some photographer is taking.

The next couple of minutes is filled with loud, excited chatter, when something in the corner of my eye catches my attention.

Beca and Chloe in a full out make out session.

“AMY!”

The Tasmanian meets my gaze and follows my lifted finger to the two girls. Her jaw literally drops and she quickly gets the rest of the girls’ attention.

“BECHLOE IS REAL!”

Redhead and brunette break apart, faces tomato red, but then CR claps her hands and says, “It took you long enough.”


	19. Chapter 19

The rest of the trip was still pretty eventful even after we all got over the fact that Beca and Chloe had been together for over a month and didn’t tell us. It was full of celebrations and parties, most of which I was not allowed to attend due to the large amounts of alcohol involved, despite the fact that the drinking age in Copenhagen is only 16.

Beca and Chloe were not amused when I brought that up, but it didn’t stop Fat Amy from taking me to a bar and trying to get me wasted.

It would have been fine, if not for Emily’s guilty conscious. We’d only been there a mere fifteen minutes before my two guardians had shown up and shut it down. Amy and I were under strict adult supervision until we got on the flight home, kissing the American soil when we’d been granted our freedom on return.

The celebration had died down very quickly once everyone realized they’d be going their separate ways in less than a week, with only Emily returning to Barden next year along with a special someone.

Me.

After some thought, I decided that going to Barden University would be the best idea, not only because Emily is,—well mostly, yes—but also because I want to join the Bellas and make lasting friendships like the rest of the girls have.

Of course, the girls were thrilled when I’d announced that I’d been accepted, but still a little pissed that I hadn’t told them I’d applied.

I was also a little upset that I wouldn’t be living with everyone next fall, especially Chloe and Beca, because they were moving to New York City and renting an apartment with Fat Amy. It would be hard not being around everyone, but at least I’d have Em.

“Grace!” Chloe’s perky voice snaps me out of my thoughts, her face hoping into my peripheral vision. “Are you packed? We have to be out of the house and on the road at one if we’re going to be at my parents’ house by dinner.”

Looking at the clock, I can clearly see that it’s 12:02 and I have less than an hour before everyone departs and we don’t see each other for a while. A glance down reminds me that my suitcase is completely empty.

“Hey, is everything alright?”

There’s a weight on my shoulder as Chloe places her hand down and squeezes it gently. “Yeah, I’m fine.” I reply with a shrug.

She frowns, a knowing look in her eye, “Then why haven’t you packed and look like Stacie stole your candy again?”

“It’s just,” I have every intent on lying, but keeping it in only seems to make it worse, “I don’t want to say goodbye.”

  
If its possible Chloe’s smile gets even softer, “Oh, Grace, it’s not goodbye, it’s more of a see you later.”

“But everyone’s moving to different places. It won’t be the same.” Quickly, I wipe the few tears that leak out. “I like being all together.”

“I know, I do too,” Her smile turns down slightly, “but I’ve learned that change is a good thing and even when we’re apart, we’re still a family. I know it doesn’t seem like it but everything will be okay.” Her eyes brighten, “Plus, we’ll be together again for CR’s wedding this summer, it’s so exciting!”

A smile of my own forms, “Yeah, you’re right, Chloe.” We share a hug, “Thanks, I feel a lot better now.” Truth be told I’m still a little upset, but she’s trying really hard and I don’t want to upset her.

“Good!” She claps her hands together and grabs a couple articles of clothing from the floor, “Let’s get packing!”

“Yes ma’am!” I salute, before opening the closet and getting started.  
____________________________________________________________________________

Chloe and I walk down the stairs twenty minutes later to find everyone sitting in the living room smiling like idiots. “Um, what’s going on?” I turn to the redhead to find her wearing a similar expression, the duffle bag sliding off my shoulder and hitting the ground with a soft _thud_.

“Well,” I can now see the nervousness surrounding Beca as she jumps from the couch, races to the other side of the room and picks up a box wrapped in a bright red ribbon. “we wanted to give you something before everyone left.”

She hands me the box and I eye it nervously before giving it a slight shake to test for anything dangerous.

“It’s not a bomb, although that would be funny.” Fat Amy remarks from her position on the sofa.  
  
Lilly mumbles something that sounds like ‘I’ve built a nuclear bomb,’ but I try to pretend I didn’t hear that and pray that she’s not secretly a serial killer or something.

“C’mon, open it!” Chloe makes a gesture with her hands in encouragement and I slowly and carefully pull the ribbon loose before removing the lid, my eyes squinting in confusion.

Upon further inspection it looks like a piece of paper in a picture frame, but I don’t read the words before I pull it out. “I swear if Amy is trying to give me her diploma to prove she graduated again I’ll…”

My voice trails off as the bold words on the top of the framed paper register.

_Birth Certificate._

“I don’t get it,” I look up from the ‘present’, “I’ve seen my birth certificate before, you didn’t have to put it in a frame.” There’s a collective sigh, along with a couple face palms that make me feel as if I’m missing something. “What?”

“Look closer!” Chloe waves her hands around spastically.

Taking a closer look, I can see the there is something different on the piece of paper that hasn’t been there before. Above the lines where my parents name were supposed to be were two different ones.

_Beca Mitchell and Chloe Beale._

My fingers tighten around the frame as tears drip down onto the glass, “I-Is this another prank?”

“I’ll admit we do pull some mean pranks sometimes, but we aren’t monsters!” Stacie defends the group, the rest of the girls making noises of agreement while Amy whistles innocently and stares at the ceiling.

“This isn’t a prank, kid.” Beca’s smile is more nervous now than before, “We wanted to wait until the state approved it before telling you.”

“Yeah,” Chloe adds excitedly, “It’s a lot harder than it looks to get a joint adoption in the state of Georgia!”

“You really want me?” I ask, looking up at the two women with a mixture of anxiety and hope built up in my chest.

“You know I don’t get all sappy often,” Beca grimaces before taking a deep breath, “but we’ve kinda wanted you since the week after Chloe hit you with her car!”

“Hey! I tapped her with my car!”

“Uhhhhh, I’m pretty sure she went over the car when you told us the story.” Emily replies unhelpfully, earning herself a glare from the redhead. “I mean, what car?”

Beca holds her hands out placatingly, so that everyone will stop, before turning back to me, “Grace, what do you say?”

There’s only a brief pause before a shit eating grin makes its way onto my face and I launch myself at Beca, pulling her down to the ground with the momentum and squeezing tightly, “Yes! Yes! Yes!”

Something falls on top of me, hugging me from behind, “This is aca-awesome!” Chloe shouts, “We’re parents, Becs!”

“We won’t be for much longer if I die of asphyxiation!” The other girl groans from underneath both of our bodies.

“Dog pile!”

I immediately understand what Beca means when multiple bodies land on top of me, crushing the air out of me. If I wasn’t so happy, I’d probably be begging for them to have mercy and get off, but since this is the last time they’d all be together for a while, I decided to endure it.

“Wait! Legacy still has to christen the house!” Jessica and Ashley shout in unison, sharing a look while they do.

Thankfully, everyone gets excited by this and Amy runs to the closet to grab the trash can lid they apparently use for this tradition.

We all watch with bated breath as the blonde Australian climbs the staircase and positions herself at the top on the lid. She pushes herself off and slides down in the most ungraceful manner possible, surprisingly not severely injuring herself when she reaches the bottom.

When Emily takes her turn, I’m forced to shut my eyes to refrain from watching my girlfriend break every bone in her clumsy body. Unlike Amy, Emily actually makes it look pretty easy and all the girls cheer when she gets to the bottom.

“Here, squirt!” Fat Amy tries to give the lid to me, but I don’t take it, “c’mon you’ll have to do it next year when you’re a Bella.”

“No thanks, I like my legs unbroken.” The group groans in disappointment but don’t push the subject any further.

The clock on the wall picks that moment to chime, alerting us that it’s one o’clock and our times up.

“Okay, Bellas! This is it!” Chloe’s eyes tear up as the group exits with all their bags, each heading to the line of cars parked out front. Everyone says goodbye before getting in their cars and pulling out, each heading to their own futures. Emily and I share a long kiss that’s interrupted by Beca suddenly letting out a loud cough. I promise to call and text her everyday before she gets into her car, Mrs. Junk waving to us as she pulls away.

“Alright, girls.” The redheaded ex-captain of the Barden Bellas exhales as each of us get into the car and buckle our seatbelt. “Everyone ready?”

I can’t see Beca’s face because she’s staring out the window, but I swear I can hear small little sniffles coming from her. Chloe must too because she reaches over the console and grips the brunettes hand.

“Yeah,” Beca breathes, “Let’s go.”

Both women turn to face me in the backseat, “Grace!”

I grin, “I’ve been ready!”  
That’s all I need to say because Chloe starts the engine and we slowly drive away from the curb, the Bella house getting smaller the further we get.

There’s a warm feeling in my chest as I leave the place that changed my life forever, but knowing I’ll be back next year without everyone makes my heart hurt a little.

But, one thought keeps me from crying.

_The Bellas may have graduated, but we’ll always be a family._


	20. SEQUEL!!!!!!!

**THE SEQUEL IS OUT EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!! ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS CLICK THE NEXT WORK ARROW AND YOU CAN READ THE FIRST CHAPTER OF ONE LAST TIME!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHH!!!!!**


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